Transformation

[Acorn]

The last werewolves he'd fought, he hadn't held back anything — he'd torn and clawed at them with no concern whether or not they survived. It was hard not to think of Alice again as he intercepted the smaller werewolf in a similar manner as the one that'd launched itself at her, his shoulder met belly and chest and he took him to the ground. That was where the similarities ended: he had superior weight and strength, and the other werewolf hit the ground at a tumble and then Leon was in his face, pushing his advantage and increasing the space between them and Rita.

What challenged him most was not hurting the other werewolf. He could've easily leaped on him, pinned him down, caught his throat in his jaws and torn it away, but he knew without Rita having to tell him that this was different; it was someone out in the woods after a deer, not the werewolves that had attacked Alice and Rita. He snapped at air, dodged attacks, and otherwise kept the other werewolf occupied until he yelped and began his transformation back to human form.

Leon glanced at Rita when she approached and placed a restraining hand on him, and he took a step back as she went to help the boy. Rita could protect herself against a werewolf in human form that wasn't able to shift freely, but there was still enough of a risk that he could hurt her that Leon didn't allow himself to relax fully. He tensed and moved to stand closer to Rita when the verbal abuse started, but that's all that came of it — he was all talk, and it made him wonder how different his relationship with Rita would've been if he'd spouted that sort of vitriol at her when they'd first met.

He remained where he was until Becca came into the clearing and then he shot her his best disappointed expression with the face he had and snorted, but relaxed when he felt Rita pushing her fingers through his fur. The amount of trust she showed him while he was in his other form still had the ability to floor him, and he watched her fondly as she went to tend to Nate. Who, by all appearances, was going to be a difficult little shit, but he didn't put it past Rita to have him tamed before he got back.

When he followed after Rebecca, he was amused by how frequently she looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes wide. He could smell the adrenaline in her sweat, could see in the way she moved that she was anticipating an attack and fighting with every fiber of her being to not run away, but she handled herself well enough until she could deposit his clothes behind a tree as Rita had requested. He waited until she scampered off before he shifted back and pulled on all his clothes — she'd even gathered his shirt from the car.

Thoughtful little witch.

He'd just finished tying off his shoelaces when Rita found him and he stood and gathered the hand not holding the first aid kit in his, then pulled her to him after she'd finished talking so he could press a kiss to her cheek, then to her lips. He remained close as he released her hand to run his palm up and down the length of her arm as he frowned and looked the direction the other werewolf sat.

"I'll try," he said, "but I don't see me doing any better." She'd gone to school to learn how to talk to people, had done it for a living, and he'd what, guided tours and waited tables? Yeah, he'd talked to people, too, but they'd typically been adults and just wanted their wine or food as quickly as possible, not pissed off teenage werewolves. He stole another kiss, squeezed her arm, then made his way back to the clearing and stopped in front of Nate.

"Hey," he said, and took note of the supplies that Rita had left behind, but didn't move to touch them. "Rita's just trying to help and gonna be honest, you're being a huge dick. But that's the plan, isn't it? Make us leave you alone?"

 

[Meraki]

"He's just scared," Rita gave Leon a reassuring smile as he held her and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Go easy on him, okay?"

Leon stepped away and Rita let him. Becca wasn't too slow to catch up with her and look up at her wide-eyed, "You okay, Rita?" she asked, genuinely concerned.

"Yeah," she said honestly, turning to watch as Leon approached Nate, "I know what it's like to face an Enforcer. I know what the people I worked with did, I know that I didn't stop it for a long time. He's not saying anything I haven't already thought. He just – I've worked in public relations my whole adult life. He needs to hear this from Leon, not me."

It wasn't about her skill. She could force him to believe her, guilt him into coming with them, but it wasn't authentic. If he was going to understand who they were, he needed to talk to them one on one with some real honesty. If he wasn't ready to trust Rita, she would respect that, because she just wanted to help. If helping meant Leon talked to him, then that's what she would do. She wasn't so conceited to believe that she could fix everything in the world with only her two good hands.

"He's eighteen, no older than you," Rita admitted to Becca, "If he's already a werewolf and has come face to face with the Enforcers? He's lost more than any of us can imagine."

-

"Shit," Nate muttered as he tried to move his wrist. It wasn't broken, but it hurt and he kept hissing at the feeling of the muscles tugging uncomfortably.

Leon approached him and he looked up, his eyes rolling almost immediately. "I don't get it. You know what the Enforcers, people like her, do to us. You have to if you follow her around like a puppy dog."

"I didn't ask for your help, but I sure as fuck didn't ask for an Enforcer's help, either."

Nate reached for the supplies and couldn't really manage the bandage with one hand and he cursed under his breath before throwing it down and thumping his head back against the tree. Leon's comments sunk in. "Listen, I don't need a lecture from you, okay? Yeah, I wanna be left alone. Can you blame me? After all the shit they put us through, you want me to just thank her for feeling sorry for me?"

He shook his head, "So yeah, I'm gonna be a dick. I think I've earned that much after all this bullshit."

 

[Acorn]

Leon did his best to keep his face neutral as Nate talked, but there was still a hint of a smile that he covered under the guise of rubbing the bottom half of his face, smoothing what now definitely qualified as a beard. He remembered a time when he'd been as angry and apt to lash out as Nate, when he'd realized his family wasn't normal, that most kids had a mother and a father, not just a grandmother who'd taken over because his mom had bailed as soon as she'd had him (but at least she'd done that instead of ending things sooner, else he wouldn't be standing there now).

It wasn't fair to not take Nate's anger seriously, though. Just because he was young and might not have the perspective gained with years and experience, it didn't mean his feelings were any less valid than his own, especially if he'd already experienced what Enforcers did at his young age.

He lowered his hand and swooped down to retrieve the bandage roll that Nate had tossed and moved it back and forth between his hands as he considered what to say. It really came down to what he wanted to achieve. Like with Becca, he hadn't felt an immediate draw to help him like Rita did, and had followed her lead until something clicked with him. This time, it was because it felt like he was looking down at the version of himself that would've been if his grandmother hadn't been there to guide and shape him.

"Not here to lecture you," he said and dropped to a crouching position. "But you've got Rita pegged wrong. She got me out of the facility, been running with her ever since." He shifted so his elbows were resting on his knees and cocked his head at Nate.

"Sounds like you didn't have any better of a time in there than I did. How'd you get out?"

 

[Meraki]

"I didn't get out."

The words were sour on his lips and caused Nate to look down at his wrist. It throbbed and he cleared his throat, eyes shifting back to anything that wasn't Leon's face. The grass, the trees, anything he could manage to see in the darkness. Rita was standing just a stone's throw away, back turned, but he knew he could hear her. He wanted her to know what her kind had done to him. More than anything. "Six months ago, my old man and I went out on a road trip, heading out towards Houston. We got attacked one night when we pulled off to find a rest stop," he shook his head, "Dad went into the woods off the side of the road, never came out, so I went in. Got attacked, managed to make it out with only a scratch but it fucked me up pretty bad. Never even knew werewolves existed and then boom I was one."

"Enforcers came three months ago. They'd contacted me over the phone, but when I said no, they came to pay a visit. It was just me and my mom and she was messed up after the attack. No answers, nothing, just a dead husband and a fucked-up kid. She knew I was a werewolf, had no idea how to deal with it, but she did. We did, and then the day when the Enforcers came – they told us we had one option, move our lives and relocated to some facility. I said no, but they…well, they didn't like that. Never do."

"That night, mom helped me pack some stuff, told me to run and we never made it to the front door. They came in the dead of night and they killed her. Told me she was a liability 'cause I told her, buried three bullets in her head, and I just ran."

"So excuse me, if I don't like your friend," he shook his head, "maybe she got you out, but what about every one else? What's she done for the rest of us? How are nice words going to bring my mom back, huh? How's a first aid kid supposed to help that?"

 

[Acorn]

Well, shit. What the hell was he supposed to say to all that? Nate's experience was what his would've been if he'd said no, if he'd told the Enforcers to fuck off and tried to continue living life as normal, and if he'd told his grandmother what'd happened. He'd always suspected they would've dealt with them that way, but to have someone share their story where it'd played out like he'd assumed was an entirely different beast.

Leon's bottom lip disappeared as he pulled it into his mouth and chewed on it. Nate brought up some fair points. What had they done for everyone else? They'd escaped, but what about all the other werewolves they were still experimenting on, trying to break so they could shift outside of the full moon? They'd left them in their containment units and fled to Rita's apartment, then to Texas without another thought to them. Well, that had been the case for him, at least. Rita might've thought about them — if anyone had, it was her. And nothing that they did or said could ever bring back Nate's mother, just like nothing could bring back Alice or Chase or any of the other people the Enforcers had put in danger's way either intentionally or through negligence.

"You're right," Leon said, then sighed. "We didn't help anyone but ourselves when we left, and maybe we could've done something for everyone else if we'd tried harder." More like if they'd tried at all; he hadn't been thinking about anyone other than himself and Rita as they fled from the facility. Hadn't there been a time he'd thought about meeting with all the other werewolves while he'd been in the facility, before Lorelei had broken his seal and before they'd started torturing him? Why hadn't he? Was he really so self-centered that he'd forgotten them entirely throughout his own ordeal? It seemed that way.

"But Rita, she's not helping you because she thinks it'll bring anyone back, it's just how she is. She helps. The witch, Becca?" He glanced over his shoulder at her where she was talking excitedly with Rita, her hands flapping almost as much as her mouth. "She was trying to get to Louisiana to this group that's supposed to be able to keep folks like us hidden from Enforcers, and I wanted to leave her behind, but Rita… Well, Rita has a way of convincing you to do the right thing."

He turned back to Nate with an amused expression, "She's probably not going to let up until you're in the car with us 'cause it wouldn't be right to leave you behind."

 

[Meraki]

It seemed like Leon got Nate's attention with talk of the rogue group Becca was searching for. Rita wasn't exactly eavesdropping, but it was easy to pick out Nate's in the night air. It wasn't nearly as deep as Leon's, not to mention he made no attempt to be quiet. He was an eighteen-year-old boy, of course he wasn't. She turned her attention back to Becca who was keeping her plenty occupied with conversation about New Orleans and how cool some of the places in Louisiana would be. Mentally, Rita tried to budget out the four of them in a motel. It would be fine, but they needed to make good time tomorrow because their resources were finite, even with what little Becca willingly pooled in.

She heard shuffling behind her towards Leon and when she turned to look, she saw Nate standing with his wrist bandaged and cold compress pressed to it. Rita tried to suppress her smile. She knew it. While she could only hear bits and pieces of what Leon said, she knew he would be the best person to talk to him. When Rita lost Chase, she'd nearly given up on the world, but that anger? It was only something she'd ever felt once – watching Chase and Leon on that television in her cell. She could have drowned in it, but she didn't. How Leon managed to anchor that anger to help his transformations, she'd never know, but she was glad he could. More than anything, she was glad he could help Nate, even if only to get him up off the ground.

"So, you joining us or what?" Rita asked.

Becca made a sort of choked sound of surprise, not anticipating taking on another passenger, but this was what Rita wanted more than anything. She wanted to protect her and Leon, yes, but she wanted to help everyone she could. The Enforcers thought she was a rogue, but they underestimated how powerful of an enemy she could be – and someday she'd get a chance to show them all the while saving everyone she could from their negligence and abuse.

"I want to meet this group," he said, almost snapping in tone, "and I can't do that if I stay here."

"No, no you can't," Rita said, unfazed by his attitude as she gathered up their things and started back towards the car. Becca went up ahead of the pack, Nate in a close second, and Rita picked up the rear with Leon. They walked alongside one another. "You're the best, you know that right?" she smiled and pressed up on toe to plant a soft peck against his cheek. "Thank you for always running after me, even when I'm impossible to deal with. Whatever you said to him, it worked."

"I knew you'd be able to talk to him."

"Now come on," she nudged him along, "It's late and we all deserve a little sleep."

 

[Acorn]

"You're not impossible," Leon said quietly, so only she would hear. He linked their fingers together and tightened his hold on her in brief squeeze. "Well, impossibly beautiful, impossibly kind, impossibly loving, hmm, impossibly… punctual. I don't think I've seen you show up late for anything." He grinned at her and snaked his arm around her waist to grab her up in a quick side hug and returned her peck to the cheek before he resumed walking towards the car.

Taking on two teenagers and heading off to the bayous of Louisiana in search of a group that might not even exist was an adventure to be sure, but Leon knew that at the end of the day, as long as she was by his side it was all worth it.

And really, what could go wrong in the five hours remaining in their trip to New Orleans? It was all downhill from here.

~*~
​

"Alright, I need everyone to not panic and keep looking forward even if I what I say next makes you want to look behind us," Leon said, gripping the steering wheel at 10 and 2 and sitting rigidly in his seat. His eyes were fixed to the rearview mirror, but his head faced straight and forward. "Pretty sure we've got someone following us. There's a big-ass black van that's been on our tail for about two miles now. Took some side streets and they're still there."

They'd stopped for dinner at a run-down diner and he'd endured Becca chattering incessantly, Rita trying her best to be friendly with Nate and the younger werewolf rewarding her efforts with crossed arms and glowering. He'd clenched his jaw so tightly that by the time the waitress brought the beer he'd ordered out of desperation, he'd had to pry his mouth open just to take a sip.

He hadn't noticed the redheaded woman and muscle-bound man sitting in the corner observing them, but he had noticed a big-ass black van pull out of the parking lot shortly after they had, and he'd realized after weaving in and out of traffic that though they weren't staying right on top of them, they were definitely sticking to them. When he'd turned onto a side street, then another and another to determine whether or not he was being paranoid, the van was still there and a chill worked its way up his spine and settled at the base of his neck where it remained.

"Lady in the passenger seat has red hair," he added, mainly to Rita. "Think we might've picked up some Enforcers."

A witch would've been able to pick up on the fact that they were a group of two werewolves and a witch. They smelled and manipulated magic. It was what they were fucking trained to do. He breathed a ragged sigh and glanced at Rita.

"Should I pull off somewhere I can change? Meet this shit head-on if it's what I think it is? Or should I keep driving?"

 

[Meraki]

Besides Nate's constant stream of belittling comments, the trip was nice. It was an interesting dynamic, one that seemed to breathe a bit of new life into her and Leon. Dark clouds had followed them from the city, rightfully so too, but it was nice to feel like the ones who had their lives together. Even with Lorelei and Jenny, everything with Alice and Chase, they were still here and they still knew what they were doing more than most. Especially more than a seemingly hyperactive little red headed witch and a brooding, snarky wolf.

They'd left the diner without much problem, zooming off into the night with hopes of finding whatever rogue group they were tracking. There was no way to track them, honestly, except word of mouth and Rita hadn't heard anything since they crossed into Louisiana. Rightfully so, too. Who was just going to go around screaming up a storm about supernaturals? If this group really was capable of hiding from the Enforcers, then she couldn't just expect to stumble upon it. She didn't voice that concern, however, because Becca seemed so genuinely excited by the prospect that Rita couldn't break her heart until she knew for certain it was a useless journey.

Just as Rita was dozing off in the car, she felt the car straighten and Leon's back go rigid. She glanced up to the rearview mirror and saw the black van he was talking about. Immediately she looked at the two in the backseat before sizing up their options. "Yeah, they're Enforcers," Rita nodded, "Extraction and registration teams out of state are always a human and witch. You need magic to track supernaturals without registered tracking."

"Keep driving for a minute," Rita said finally, humming through the options in her head. She opened the glove compartment and pulled out her gun, checking it before taking the safety off. "Alright, here's the plan. Leon, keep driving until I can manage a distraction, once they're occupied pull off and find somewhere to change. They don't always send powerful witches out this way because they need them back at the facility, so we're probably not dealing with too much magic. Do not under any circumstance, Becca, Nate, you're going to say here."

"Like hell I am!"

"It's not up for debate," Rita said finally, "Stay back, keep each other safe."

Nate pushed up to put his face between the seats and scowl at her, "They're probably your friends. That's why you don't want me out there. Gonna sell us out to the fucking—"

The sound of three gunshots went off and Rita immediately pushed Nate's head down as it ricocheted off the frame of the car and set them skidding a bit. Rita looked up to see the driver, head cocked out his window with his weapon drawn. "You ever feel a silver bullet?" Rita asked Nate finally, her words more forceful than she intended but he had to understand, "No? Thought so. I'd like to keep it that way. Becca, keep your head down. Leon, I just need a couple clean shots. If anything happens, pull over."

Rita rolled down the window and unbuckled her seatbelt. Her hands touched roof as she pulled herself out and sat on the edge of the window, her arm extended as she fired back two warning shots, only to be met back with a few of their own. Rita aimed this time and took two shots at their front tires, clipping the front right and sending it into a cloud of smoke as the wheel skidded metal against asphalt for a few hundred feet. Immediately, she felt herself yanked from the car as if it were some act of God, and she was sent flying towards the patch of grass along the road. Rita expertly positioned her body to absorb the impact and roll out of it, on her feet moments later as she started towards the van. The witch who had pulled her form the vehicle was struggling to get out of the van, but the man driving was quick out with his own gun drawn. Rita charged him quickly, ducking and moving so that she could disarm him. When the gun clattered to the ground, she brought her elbow into his abdomen and fist down between his legs before hooking her own behind his knees and taking him down to the ground. Rita was about to knock him out when a voice distracted her.

"Hey!" she heard Nate's voice echo against the wind and Rita watched as the witch in the van released herself and smiled. Nate had blown any and all opportunity they had at ending this quietly. "Nate, move!" Rita called out, but felt the man beneath her reach up and grab her hair, tossing her like a rag doll down onto the asphalt and she let out a wheezed breath as her lungs tried to remember to breathe. He knocked the gun from her own hand, just an inch or so off, and he had his forearm pressed to her throat, keeping her locked there until they could, presumably, deal with the supernaturals.

The witch made ground towards Nate, her hand raising and immediately she saw Nate rise off the ground. Fuck fuck fuck. Rita brought her leg up to hook around her assailant and took him to the ground, moving just enough to grab the gun and fire a warning shot at the witch's feet. Once it hit, the sound caused her to stumble back and the spell broke, sending Nate to his ass rightfully so. Immediately, the witch's attention turned to Rita as she scowled and clenched her first, sending Rita immediately to the ground in a wave of awful, excruciating pain.

"Rita!" Nate's voice called out and Rita gritted through it.

"It's o-okay, just," she bit out as she shifted to fight against the magic, her leg kicking out to take the other Enforcer to the ground but the witch just fought back harder, crippling her to the ground, "Get Leon. P-protect Becca."

 

[Acorn]

"Rita, what are you do—" was all he managed before she fired her gun and then she was gone from the window. Bile rose in his throat and he had the presence of mind to realize she'd end up under the tires if he did anything other than steer straight, so he held the wheel straight and watched the rearview mirror until she was in sight. He'd thought she'd be crumpled into a ball or hurt in some way, but she was standing, walking, then running towards the van, man and witch. He whipped over, sending Becca and Nate ricocheting off each other (did either of them ever keep their fucking seatbelts on?) and he put the car in park but left the key in the ignition and the engine running.

"For the love of God, stay in the car this time," he said, looking behind him to both Becca and Nate and fixing them with his hardest stare. Becca squirmed in her seat, but Nate looked at him defiantly. Leon wanted to say more, make it clear to the other werewolf that he'd put himself in the sort of danger that could get him killed if he moved, but Rita needed him.

He flew from the car, immediately searching for a place he could go to shift — not for decency's sake (he would've shifted right then and there with no mind to stripping naked first, or even to just shifting in his clothes, ruining his last pair of good jeans), but if he got caught mid-transformation by the witch or a silver bullet, he'd be beyond fucked. He'd discovered he couldn't complete a shift with silver on him, thanks to Lorelei and her silver handcuffs. He'd be all but useless to Rita, then.

There was a nearby building that he ran and slipped behind and he started shifting even while he pulled his clothes off. When he tore back around the corner, he was a bundle of fur, claws and an unrelenting desire to get to Rita as soon as possible. He didn't see that Nate had left the car and had started towards the building he'd gone behind to shift, nor that Becca had joined him, all he saw was Rita writhing on the ground, the witch standing over her.

The other Enforcer, the man, had regained his feet, retrieved his gun, and had it up and pointed at him even as he ran towards them. His eyes were wide in surprise, but his aim remained steady — they hadn't expected that either of the werewolves they'd been following would be able to shift. The full moon had passed, it shouldn't have been a concern, but that didn't change the fact Leon was barreling towards them with his mouth peeled back in a snarl, intent on the witch.

Before he made impact, the gun fired twice and one bullet grazed his side just along his ribs, but he barely registered the sting. He hit the witch mid-stride and they both went smashing into the other Enforcer. He untangled himself from the pile and spun to face them, took one quick step forward, then another, but every additional step after that felt like he was trudging through cold molasses that sucked at his feet. Lorelei had been able to stop him entirely with a glance. This witch only slowed him enough that the other Enforcer was able to get his gun up and pointed at him again, but then he heard Becca yell a high-pitched war cry and a cloud of gravel and debris went flying into the man's face. That was all the opportunity Rita needed to accomplish what she'd intended to do in the first place and knock him out.

That only left the witch, and he was… almost… there. She had her hands up, her face was wrinkled in concentration and sweat beaded on her forehead, and he snapped the air, inches shy of making contact with her face when a rock the size of a fist went sailing past and thunked the woman on the side of her head. She crumpled to the ground and he blinked over at Becca, who looked stunned.

She met his stare and then started giggling uncontrollably.

"I did that, didn't I?" she eventually said.

He looked at Rita and huffed a laugh.

 

[Meraki]

Rita managed to take the other Enforcer down, but she was unsteady n her feet for a minute when Becca managed to take out the witch. She let out a laugh, a tired but warm sound, "You did great, Becca. Nice shot." Nate jogged up alongside her. He seemed wide-eyed and confused, but Rita placed a hand on his shoulder before shaking the cobwebs from her mind. There was something different about dealing with witches when you were human – Rita never seemed to bounce back from it as fast as Leon did. Her head felt like it was swimming and her bones ached, but she moved anyway. "Come on, we need to move quick," Rita breathed out as she slipped on the safety and tucked her gun away in the small of her back.

"The car's that way—"

"I'm not going to the car," Rita said simply as she moved to the male Enforcer and shifted around for his badge before opening the door of the van. Inside, the van was tricked out with tracking equipment and technology. Rita moved in towards the console and pulled the laptop down. She gathered it in her lap and left it connected to the wifi. Her hands moved quickly as she type out the access code and credentials on his badge and soon enough she was deep into the Enforcer's mainframe.

"What are you doing?" Becca's voice called out and broke through Rita's focus.

"If there's a rogue group, the Enforcers have to have some idea of where they are and the only way to access that information is through the mainframe which I no longer have clearance to," Rita stated as her fingers flew across the keyboard, "but that doesn't mean I can't navigate it with someone else's credentials. Especially someone who has more clearance to files than I ever did."

"Do I have a file?" Nate asked.

"We all do," Rita hummed, "but that's not what I'm looking for – let's see. It looks like the closest they managed to track them was ten miles outside of New Orleans. We're only a few hours out, in that case. We'll have to keep our ear to the ground once we get there."

Rita shut the laptop and typed in coordinates into her phone for the sake of saving them, but moved out of the van as fast as she could to get them back towards the car. Rita was still shaking the pain from her head, but it didn't take very long for her to notice the slight red streaking in Leon's fur and Rita was quick to stand. She crossed the distance between them and placed her hand on Leon's ribs, just above the graze. "Come on, let's get you back to the car," Rita said, "We can patch that up."

They'd both experienced worse, but Rita didn't like seeing Leon hurt in any way.

"Why aren't we taking the laptop if it can get into the mainframe?" Nate asked, eyebrow raised.

"Because everything piece of technology Enforcers use have tracking chips," Rita explained, "We take that laptop with us, they'll find us in no time. Now come on, we need to go before they call for a check-in and these two don't answer."

 

[Acorn]

Leon followed the group to the car, but continued walking past them until he was back to the building he'd originally shifted next to. His clothes were still there, and once he was in his human form, he put all but his shirt back on. The gash on his side was elongated and mostly superficial, but it stung like a motherfucker when he stood next to the car and Rita disinfected and bandaged it up. After he pulled his shirt over his head and she'd put all her healing materials in the first aid kit and closed it, he cupped her face in his hands, pressed his forehead against hers, and closed his eyes.

"You scared me when you went out the window," he admitted quietly. "Glad you're okay." Everything had turned out alright; they'd taken the Enforcers down and managed to not only confirm the existence of a rogue group but found out roughly where they'd been spotted last. He wouldn't allow himself to think about the multitude of ways things could've gone wrong, but he would take a moment to hold her and be thankful that things had gone well.

The window nearest them went down and Nate stuck his head out. "Aren't we in a hurry?"

"Yes," Leon sighed, then relinquished his hold on Rita so he could take up a spot in the passenger seat. Shifting always left him exhausted, and he didn't think he'd be able to get them to a motel safely. Given that he fell asleep within the first five minutes of Rita driving, he'd made the right call.

~*~​

After a night's rest and a hearty breakfast, they made it into New Orleans without further incident. Despite growing up relatively close, Leon had never been before, and when he first got out of the car, he was struck by how hot and uncomfortably humid it was. There was a haze that hung heavy in the air, making every breath a challenge and he wore a grimace until they made their way into an air-conditioned corner cafe. Then, he was freezing in his short sleeved shirt and sat huddled in his chair rubbing warmth into his arms while Rita went up front ordered everyone coffee and beignets – little deep-fried pastries that were dusted with powdered sugar and melted in your mouth.

Becca, with a smudge of white on her chin, reached for a napkin and brought it up to her mouth to groan into it, "Oh my God, these things are so good."

"They're just doughnuts," Leon said.

She lowered her napkin to frown at him. "If you were trying to ruin the moment, you did."

He did his best to look apologetic even though he was laughing.

"Such a jerk," she muttered before she grabbed another beignet and popped it into her mouth; it seemed to console her, because she went back to smiling contentedly as she chewed.

Leon nudged Rita's leg with his knee underneath the table and smiled at her when she looked over at him. "Got a plan for our next step?" he asked, and wasn't surprised when she laid one out in great detail, but was dismayed when she told him what his part in the whole thing would be.
​

~*~​

"No, you can't have a drink just because everyone else is walking around with one," he said for at least the tenth time to a pouting Becca.

"Why not?"

"You're both eighteen."

"You're the only one who knows that," Nate pointed out.

Leon snorted. "You look like you're fifteen."

"Fuck you."

Where was Rita? She'd asked him to take Becca and Nate out while she scouted around for some leads, but he'd had no idea what it'd entailed, and it'd been hours now; the sun was down and somehow it was no less humid and hot than it had been when they'd arrived in the city. He'd thought he'd be able to occupy them in the French Quarter – something Becca, in particular, had been enthusing about seeing since they'd met her – but they didn't seem interested in anything other than annoying the shit out of him. Leon had never given much thought to having kids, but they were doing a stellar job of making him consider a vasectomy before his relationship with Rita ever progressed to a point where that might become a topic.

As they worked their way through the crowded sidewalk, a man wearing a baseball cap and a wide grin shook a sign with a skull and crossbones while he yelled about a tour beginning at eight. Starts in fifteen minutes! Twenty dollars a ticket! Come see ghosts, vampires, and have spooky fun!

"Look, a ghost tour. Wouldn't you guys like to go on a ghost tour?"

"With like... Graves and stuff?" Becca asked.

"I guess."

"Ew, no."​

Leon sighed, then raised an eyebrow when Becca hooked an arm around his and looked up and batted her eyelashes at him.

"You could just buy us drinks and we'd leave you alone," she said sweetly.

"Yup," Nate agreed.

"You know what? Why don't you ask Rita if you can?" Becca brightened and skipped over to Rita, who had started towards them from across the street.

"Rita, Leon said we could have drinks," she said, "but you have to buy them for us."

"I did not," he interjected loudly. "I said to ask if you could."

 

[Meraki]

It was a long afternoon.

After leaving the kids with Leon, Rita set off to try and find any possible lead she could. There really wasn't much of a place to start, but she followed any sign that screamed supernatural even if it was just a man-made event, considering that would be the best place to hide – in plain sight. It wasn't until she'd made her way deeper into the heart of the city did she catch inkling of anything, claims of supernatural sightings that were almost too specific and spot on to be fabricated, and when Rita stopped and listened to these otherwise crazy people, she made sure to let them explain. All the sightings were about ten miles outside of the city, which made sense with the coordinates Rita had pulled from the Enforcer's computer. Otherwise, Rita just left her feelers out and made note to make herself known to them.

She was almost convinced at this point that the group would have to come to them.

By the time the sun went down, Rita was finally moving back towards the city. She'd stopped off at their hotel quickly to change into something less stifling and covered in sweat. It didn't take her long to find the three dangerously close to Bourbon Street where she knew Nate and Becca would only find trouble. She heard her name before she saw them and her green eyes flashed up to see Becca bolt across the street and take her hand.

At the exchange between her and Leon, Rita only laughed.

"Nice to see you, Rita," Rita shook her head and spoke to herself before turning her attention back to the two, "So I see you both did a pretty stellar job of exhausting Leon this afternoon, huh?"

"Come on, just this once!" Becca said, completely glazing over Rita's comment.

"Alright, come on," Rita said finally, "One drink each and that's it."

"For real?" Nate said, cocking his head to the side in surprise.

"Yeah, for real," Rita said, "one time offer."

Rita went up to the counter and ordered them both drinks, handing them off. Becca squealed with excitement and Nate took a deep swig, showing off. "Now go, you can hang out in this block, but the minute I lose sight of you, you both get locked in the hotel for the foreseeable future, got it?"

"Got it," Becca smiled.

Rita gave Nate a stern look and he scoffed, but she saw the touch of a smile on his lips. "Yes ma'am."

She shooed them off and turned to Leon when they were finally alone, pulling him towards her and pressing a kiss to his lips. "Hi there," she smiled and giggled softly, "Thank you for playing babysitter today."

"I managed to track down a couple leads, but I just didn't want to say anything in front of them. Becca keeps asking when we're going to go find them, but if there's anything I learned today it's that they're probably going to have to find us. I just didn't want to disappoint her. I hate making them wait for safety when I wish I could just give it, but that's not the reality here."

"The leads all line up with the coordinates I got, though," she added for positivity sake, "So if we don't hear anything in the next day or so, we can regroup."

 

[Acorn]

As soon as her lips met his, all the tension that'd settled in his neck and shoulders drained from him. He breathed deeply and smiled back at her. It was amusing to think of keeping Becca and Nate occupied as babysitting, since they were both legally adults, but he couldn't argue it. He couldn't imagine them wandering around New Orleans on their own without getting into trouble. By what Leon figured, Becca would probably give all her money to the first psychic she encountered that promised information about her mom or the rogue group and Nate, though his distrusting nature would prevent him from doing something that dumb, still had something to prove to the rest of the world and could be just as easily manipulated. They weren't babies, but they definitely needed someone watching out for them.

He rested his hands on Rita's hips as she reported on her day's efforts, his head lowered a touch so he could hear her over all the commotion in the street. He'd half-suspected she'd show up with someone from the rogue group in tow, because every goal he'd seen her set her mind to in the past had resulted in her achieving it, but perhaps he needed to temper his expectations. New Orleans was a busy city, both day and night, and the surrounding landscape wasn't exactly hospitable. If the rogue group had come here to hide, and the Enforcers hadn't found them yet, it was fair to expect it'd take them longer than a day of searching to locate them.

"In that case, my vote is for heading back to the hotel," Leon said. "All this is ah… it's a little much for me." As if on cue, a woman yelled, "woo!" and then a dozen other people took up her cry.

The hotel bar was much more his speed; it was mostly empty, and he was able to sit next to Rita in a quiet corner where they nursed their drinks and talked. They'd left Becca and Nate in their own rooms, and he was glad to take a break from them. Becca with any amount of alcohol in her system, it turned out, was even more bubbly and talkative, and Nate was even more of an asshole. He needed some space, some time to recover, and there was no better way to do that than with a glass of whiskey and Rita's company.

There was motion in his peripheral and he looked up to see the bartender with two more drinks on her tray. "From the gentleman," she said and nodded towards a man who sat alone in the opposing corner. He was dressed well, in a light blue button-up dress shirt and dark blue tie, with a suit jacket hanging off the back of his chair, and when Leon made eye contact, the man smiled and lifted his own glass.

"Uh, okay. Thanks."

He blinked at Rita as the bartender placed their drinks on the table and then retreated back to the bar.

"Fuck, we're gonna have to talk to him now, aren't we? That's how that works, right?" He scratched at the side of his face and sighed.

 

[Meraki]

Rita was happy that they had Becca and Nate with them, but nothing could ever compare to little, quiet moments with Leon. After their time at the facility, Rita did not take those moments for granted. They didn't get much alone time lately, but she was glad they managed to make time for it and just settle into a little sport at the hotel bar with a couple drinks between them. She was happy for the break, too, because Nate's comments were still quick and digging. They were starting to wear on her a bit, though she would never say anything about it. He was just an angry kid, she understood that, but she wondered when she would have done enough to prove to him that she was worth trusting. But he trusted Leon, so that would have to be enough.

Rita sipped at her drink, her bones tired but mind eager to talk with Leon. They just chatted as they always did, smiles in abundance as the two just enjoyed their quiet little moment. It was only when a few drinks came to them did Rita look up from her perfect little bubble beside Leon. It was a well-dressed and attractive man in a suit, raising his glass to the two of them. Rita wanted to outwardly groan, mostly because she'd hit her quota for people for the day, but she kept it down and simply smiled.

"Yeah, we should go thank him," Rita breathed out and finished off her first drink before reaching for the new one that just arrived. She turned to him and smiled, taking his hand and tugging Leon lovingly after her. The sooner they did this, the sooner she could take him upstairs.

"But after we do? I think we can finish these off," Rita said quietly with a smirk, "and go upstairs for some real privacy."

The two walked over to the man's table and Rita offered him a warm smile. "Thank you for the drinks," Rita said kindly as the man looked up at them, "I'm Rita, this is Leon."

 

[Acorn]

After Rita's suggestion, Leon did outwardly groan, because now all he could do was kick himself in the ass for not taking her up to their room to begin with. But with any luck, they could say a few pleasantries to the dude in a suit and they could be on their way.

He fell in step behind Rita, his hand in hers, and then came up alongside her to stand in front of the man. His features were all angles, with his cheekbones most pronounced and his nose a sharp line that jutted from his face proudly. Sometimes, smiles didn't meet the eyes, and Leon had learned to be wary when that happened, but when this man smiled, his blue eyes were warm, too.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you," the man said. "I'm Orvar." His accent wasn't American, but Leon couldn't place it beyond that. His words were precise, almost overly enunciated. Orvar wasn't a name he'd ever heard before, either, so he was at a loss where he might be from.

Orvar took a sip from his glass, placed it directly in the center of a cloth napkin, then lined his fingers up to smooth the edges where it'd bunched up. He maintained his gaze on them despite the motion of his hands, looking at both their faces, then down to Leon's arm — the one not attached to the hand he held Rita's with, the one that was crisscrossed with puckered scars from his encounter with a werewolf a few years ago. Leon shifted from one foot to the other and followed the direction of his eyes, then blinked back up at him. He'd expected him to remark on it, ask what'd happened like most people did, and he would've pulled some outlandish story from his ass, but Orvar said nothing about it. Instead, he gestured to the two seats in front of him, wordlessly inviting them to sit, but neither of them moved and Orvar laughed, though not unkindly; it was like he'd expected their response and it amused him.

"Please sit," he said, "I wish to speak of the subject you've been inquiring about."

Leon shot a glance at Rita, his lips parted in shock. Was this someone from the rogue group? How had they already found out they'd been asking about them? Whatever the answer, they needed to talk to the guy and if he wanted them to sit, then they needed to sit. As he released Rita's hand and pulled a chair out for her to sit in, then took a seat himself, it dawned on him that they probably weren't going to get back to their hotel room anytime soon, and he took a moment to mourn what could've been before he focused on the man in front of them.

"But first, I have a question."

Of course.

"Have you been photographed together?"

Leon snorted a laugh and shook his head. "What?"

"Separately, you are beautiful, but together?" He clicked his tongue and brought a curled finger up to his lip as he looked between them, his gaze admiring. "Exquisite. If you haven't been photographed, then I must insist you let me."

Was this guy for real?

 

[Meraki]

"Thank you," Rita said kindly as he offered them seats again, this time insinuating that he had something to share with them. The two settled next to one another, after Leon pulled out her chair, and then her hand slipped back into his under the table. It was nice, sometimes, to have someone on yours side when conversing with another. Rita remembered all of the benefits she had gone to for her previous job and while Chase didn't always manage off work, the nights he did were always her favorite. Not simply for the company, but also for the support. Leon always thought Rita was on her game, but she could only be that way with his love and support. After all, she did this all for them and all of the other supernaturals who deserved to live and love as they pleased without fear of an oppressive facility threatening their lives.

Rita was happy, though, to find that her day was not spent mindlessly running about. It was nice to know that her work paid off and that the man in front of them found them because of her tireless efforts. It made her muscles ache a little less and the thought of an early bedtime flee from her mind.

If you have not been photographed, then I must insist you let me.

"We haven't, actually," Rita responded in a manner much different than Leon. While he was laughing, Rita looked on pleasantly and took a moment to just study Orvar. There was nothing malicious in his comment, nothing that would or should set them on edge. "If you are here for what you say you are, you must know that we haven't had much time for things like that."

"That being said," she smiled and let out a soft laugh, "I wouldn't be opposed to having one good picture of us. I'd really like that."

"So if we can speak about my inquiry," Rita shrugged, "I don't see why we can't let you photograph us, so long as we get a copy, of course."

 

[Acorn]

Leon stopped laughing and stared at Rita when not only did she respond to Orvar, but she responded positively. He waited for her to squeeze his hand, let him know in some private way that she was humoring the guy, but she didn't and his shoulders fell and he sighed. When he looked back at Orvar, the man was smiling widely, looking entirely too pleased by Rita's acquiescence and entirely unfazed by Leon's disgruntlement.

"I agree to your terms," Orvar said to Rita, and then winked at Leon. The fucker knew, somehow he knew that their dynamic meant this thing was going to happen now regardless of what fight he put up. Orvar pushed his chair back with easy grace and stood, then retrieved his jacket and pulled it on. Once it was buttoned up, he reached into a pocket and Leon caught a flash of a small rectangular metallic case. He placed a cream-colored card onto the table and then slid it forward with his forefinger.

"Tomorrow night at eight, this address. I fully expect that with you as subjects, there will no doubt be more than one good picture, and you may have as many copies as you want." He bowed his head deeply at them. "Enjoy the rest of your night," he said, then to Leon's astonishment, he left without another word.

Leon plucked the card from the table and in tiny, elegant golden script, there was Orvar's name — just Orvar — and a street address in New Orleans.

"He seemed nice," Leon ventured, then caught Rita's eye and handed the card off to her before he looked over his shoulder to make sure Orvar had actually left.

The bar was empty now except for them and the bartender, and he breathed a wheezing laugh.

"But what the fuck just happened?"

 

[Meraki]

Leon handed Rita the card and she traced her fingers over the embossed script. Orvar. Like Prince or Beyoncé or Oprah. Rita shook her head and hummed over the information they gathered. Whoever he was, by the way he spoke and held himself, he was someone important. It was not a conversation they could afford to push away but Rita could not find out much else about him. It was just clear from the moment he bought their drinks and made eye contact, that he was the one in control. It was not like Jenny and her overpowering need for micromanagement, but it felt vaguely similar if not a thousand times warmer and more inviting. She did not doubt Orvar was an eccentric older man, but he had a clear agenda, though the words might as well have been written in Greek because Rita couldn't quite grasp it.

Yet.

"We just got invited to get photographed," Rita laughed and turned to Leon, "but I don't think this is a conversation we can refuse at this point. If he found us that quickly, he must have something to offer and for the sake of us, for Becca and Nate, I think we have to humor him."

"Would you believe me if I told you that doesn't even come close to the strangest first impression I've ever experienced?"

/

"What do you mean you're going out?" Becca asked, eyes wide as she sat cross legged on the king-sized bed in Rita and Leon's room. Nate was sprawled over the chair, foot up on the arm rest as he feigned absolute boredom.

"Aren't we supposed to be working on finding this group?" Nate huffed, "This is a waste of time."

"I found a couple leads, but we have to wait until the morning to see if any of them pan out. There's nothing we can do tonight," Rita explained as she did her makeup in the mirror over the dresser while Leon worked on his beard in the bathroom with the door propped open so she could run in and out for whatever she needed.

"Then why can't we go with you?" Nate asked.

"You really want to go out with us?" Rita raised an eyebrow, knowingly.

"Well not you," he huffed and closed his eyes again, "You wouldn't know fun if it hit you in the fucking face."

"Nate!" Becca exclaimed.

"What? I just assume Enforcers are too busy slaughtering and torturing supernaturals to have time for dinner parties and clubbing," he said, matter-of-factly.

"You two are staying here, end of story," Rita said finally, pushing through Nate's comments as she adjusted her sundress. The sun was going down, but New Orleans was always so hot and sticky, there was no way she was putting on pants and a jacket. "Free reign over movies and room service. We'll only be gone for a couple hours. Got it?"

"Got it," Becca smiled and bounded up to look at Rita in the mirror, "How do you get your hair to curl so perfectly like that?"
"About three years of awful post-puberty years where this was a frizzy mane?" Rita laughed, "I think I've earned these curls by now, but I'm pretty good with an iron too. I'll do yours sometime, if you both stay here."

"Will you curl my hair too, Rita?" Nate shot back.

"Go, go!" Becca shooed her towards the bathroom to gather up Leon, "We'll be fine. Everything will be fine."

/

With his handsome clean-shaven face, Leon and Rita strolled along the streets of New Orleans hand in hand. She was wearing a seemingly out of character white sundress, considering she always wore jeans – but there was a time when she was carefree enough to just go around wearing dresses. She figured that tonight (despite their company and intent) was their only night out in a long while to just be together. They made their way on the trolley down into the Garden District and found themselves outside of a beautiful home with a vast entrance and a well-kept front porch. The lights were on, everything about it warm and inviting against the music and fireflies that drenched New Orleans in character.

She loved it here. Were they not on the run, she might have just stayed.

Stepping up to the front door, Rita run the doorbell and squeezed Leon's hand in her own. "Well, here goes nothing, I guess."

 

[Acorn]

Leon, in a tucked blue button-up shirt rolled at the sleeves and tan chino trousers, stood next to Rita with her hand in his and tried not to allow the ball of tension that'd formed in the center of his gut get any bigger than it already was. The last time they'd dressed up and gone out together, they'd been exploited, held captive, and tortured. But Rita, unlike the night before the investor's ball, seemed calm and he made an effort to emulate her.

After she rang the doorbell, he reached up to scratch at his beard, a new habit he'd picked since he'd allowed it to grow out, but his fingers met smooth skin and he breathed a laugh at himself. Rita hadn't seen him without some sort of scruff since they'd met, but since they'd been on the run he hadn't given any thought to keeping his facial hair trimmed and it'd grown long enough that she'd been able to dig her fingers into it when she kissed him. When he'd left the bathroom barefaced, though, she'd complimented him and looked at him in a way that always made it difficult to keep his mind on what they were supposed to be doing. He'd made a quick mental note to make more of an effort keeping himself groomed in the future.

They'd waited long enough that he'd started to think they needed to ring the doorbell again, but the door opened and Orvar's smiling face greeted them. He was wearing an outfit similar to what he'd had on the night before, except he was in a maroon dress shirt and black slacks and didn't have a tie on. His casual look, Leon supposed.

"Welcome," he said, and opened the door wide enough for them to come inside, then closed it behind him. As they stood in the expansive and expensively decorated foyer, Leon did his best to breathe and focus on his physical connection to Rita, her slender fingers wrapped around his hand, warm and soft and always gentle. Orvar swept past them only to turn and take several backward steps as he beckoned them with a hand.

"Come inside, please. I have drinks ready." He led them to another expansive room, this one with couches, chairs, and a coffee table that looked like something pulled right from a history book. Leon didn't have an eye for antiques, so had no clue how old the stuff was, but everything was cream colored with dark wooden and gold accents and he perched on the very edge of the couch they'd been directed to, afraid to relax for risk of Orvar whipping out a bill for the damages he'd caused.

The man busied himself with pouring them drinks from an intricately cut crystal decanter — scotch, he quickly determined, after he took a sip from one of the tulip-shaped glasses they'd been handed. Smooth, smoky, almost earthy. Better than anything he'd had in recent memory. Orvar poured himself a glass, too, and sat down in a chair opposite of them, but put it on the glass covered coffee table between them without tasting it.

"Now. I believe our terms," he said and looked at Rita, "were that we'd speak first. Let us speak, then. Why do you seek us?"

Orvar didn't break eye contact with Rita, didn't seem to expect that he'd talk, and that was just fine by Leon. He took another sip from his glass, held the scotch in his mouth for a moment, then swallowed and was again amazed at how smoothly the amber liquid went down.

Talking had always been her strength and listening his.

So he listened.

 

[Meraki]

Rita stepped in the expansive house first, her hand never leaving Leon's as they walked. It was an immaculate home, decorated with such meticulous precision that it felt as though they were walking through a perfectly curated museum as opposed to a livable home. Even Rita's own apartment, which was of a higher class than most, felt lived in. There were a few dishes in the sink, a sweater or jacket draped over a dining room chair and her bedding was hardly ever made, but not in Orvar's home. Everything had a place, a rhyme or reason, and it was almost uncomfortable. Rita did not show it, however. She never did and instead she moved into the sitting room where he had crystal decanters and what had to be scotch aged perfectly. Rita was never a scotch girl, but Chase's father had sworn on the stuff. It'll put hair on your chest, Rita.

Though Rita was always perfectly content with how her chest was naturally.

"Thank you," she accepted the glass and took a seat next to Leon, her hand slipping from his to rest on his knee. She knew how important physical touch was to him sometimes, especially when he was nervous our out of place, and she noticed ever since they met the way he would stand or sit closer if he was unsure. Her slender fingers draped delicately over his knee as she took a sip of the scotch and settled it on the coffee table in front of her. Orvar made no mistake to look to her for answers and she accepted the invitation to talk graciously. She wondered for a moment if it would be best to lie, but something told her that Orvar could see the honesty in her eyes.

The same way she could see it in other people.

"We seek protection," Rita explained with ease, her voice warm in the air as she spoke, "I am an ex-Enforcer. Very recently ex, in fact. I lost my fiancé a little over a year ago and was offered a job by Dr. Jenny, who I am sure you are aware of if you are in the business of evading the Enforcers. Leon and I met while he was being kept at the facility to aid with his transformations. He managed to endure quite a bit to control his transformation, butut they were using us to recreate the process with other supernaturals and we ran. We did not hear about your group until we recently met a young witch in our travels who was adamant that you were the people to seek for such protection."

"Her mother is being held at the facility and used her only means of escape to get her daughter out and send her on a goose chase to find you, in hopes that someone would protect her. We also have a young werewolf, unable to control his transformations, who has been sought out within the last three months by the Enforcers and was living, injured in the words just outside of New Orleans."

"If nothing else," Rita explained, "those two deserve a safe place to figure out who they are and what their supernatural abilities mean."

"We also seek any answers you can give. Neither of us want to abandon those still at the mercy of the Enforcers," her words were sincere, never before spoken thoughts, "We just need to be prepared before we go running headfirst. It almost got us killed last time and I am sick of watching the Enforcers rip the life out of people – human and supernatural alike."