In fact, the cell phone was often his wake-up call, whether he set it or not. The loud buzz of an incoming call was the first thing he heard on any given morning. It never failed to annoy him.
This morning was no exception. The phone yanked Griffen out of a deep sleep, the kind of truly black nothing-ness that comes before the real dreams start. He jerked upright with a gasp, lunging for the phone. The bedside table still showed faint gouges from similar surprise wakings, but Griffen was learning to control his reflexes.
He popped open the lid of his phone and saw just why he felt so startled and groggy all at once. He had gotten a generous four hours of sleep.
“Mr. McCandles, we gots some big problems down here.”
“Slim…”
Griffen recognized the voice through the haze of sleep and shook his head, trying to clear it more. Not quite tracking, he said the first thing that came into his head.
“Isn’t it time you started calling me Griffen?”
“Well… let’s just wait till after this here meet is done with. Might feel different ’bout that by then. We got problems,” Slim said.
Griffen was already up and getting dressed.
“It’s nine in the morning, Slim,” Griffen said, voice slightly muffled as he pulled on his shirt.
“Sorry ’bout that, but not every attendee is quite as nocturnal as you. Be glad it ain’t a normal convention, or you’d have to get here every day by now.”
“Right. I’ll try to remember to be more thankful that these aren’t ‘normal’ conventioneers.”
Despite his sarcasm, a wry smile pulled at his lips. As troublesome as it might be, at least his life wasn’t boring. He hurried out the door, cell phone still pressed to his ear.
“Fill me in while I’m on my way,” Griffen said, heading out the security gate and onto the street.
“Sure thing, but not the Sonesta. The problem is in the garous’ hotel room.”
Griffen quickly changed his course, taking a right at the first street he came to.
“The Best Western? Up on Rampart right?”
“Right, which may or may not be a helpfulness. Anyways, I’m headin’ up there myself, so you might beat me. Just head on up to the room. They is waitin’,” said Slim.
“Okay, but you still haven’t told me just what is going on.” Rampart was only a few blocks away, but a few blocks on hurried feet without proper sleep or anything resembling breakfast seemed to drag on forever. Griffen kept his strides long and fast, but didn’t run. He had learned the hard way that running through the Quarter was great fodder for the local rumor mills.
The last time he had just been trying to pick up a snack at the A&P during a commercial break. By nightfall he had gotten a full barrage of everything from jokes about his taking up jogging to whispers that he had been running from someone. He didn’t even want to think about what would spring up if he ran and looked worried at the same time.
Slim clicked his tongue. “I don’t quite have all the details. Got a panic call from one of the lesser wolves. They all sharin’ a couple of adjoining rooms there and he heard a snarl and sounds of a fight in the john.”
“Is that all?” Griffen asked.
“Well… he opened the door and said their leader had been attacked. By some ‘thing’ he said,” Slim added.
“Umm? ‘Thing’?”
“Yeah, here’s where it gets garbled. Couldn’t put together ’nough words for me to have a clue what he found in there.”
Griffen started to slow his pace to a normal walking speed.
“Slim, that doesn’t exactly sound like an emergency. By the time we get there, whatever fight happened will be well over.”
“Yep, you right ’bout that. Fact it was over when the kid opened the door. He just too far out of his depth not to yelp for help,” Slim said.
Griffen again noticed a bit of the disdain in Slim’s tone that he and the other animal-control people had for the shape-shifters. He didn’t have the time and patience just then to question it again.
“So why are we running over there?” Griffen said.
He didn’t say, tempting though it was, why the hell did you wake me?
“ ’Cause, the critter is still there.”
Griffen stumbled over the uneven sidewalk and almost fell. He stared at his phone for a moment.
“Right…” Griffen said, petty objections instantly fading. “Be there in five minutes.”
He closed his phone and took off at a faster pace. He would deal with the rumor mill later.
The Best Western was not by any means a high-end hotel by New Orleans standards. However, it was fairly cheap, clean, and could officially boast being inside the Quarter, even though it was on the very edge. Needless to say, Griffen didn’t have any problems just walking in and heading up to the third floor. In fact, he hadn’t even seen anyone behind the counter.
Slim had beaten him after all, and stood in the hall outside the room with one of the younger shape-shifters Griffen had seen at the conclave. He had never heard the young man speak. Like most of the lesser members attending, he deferred to his particular leader.
Slim was talking to him.
“Now, you stay out here like I tol’ you. No one, and I mean no one, comes in till me or Moderator McCandles says so.”
The young man simply nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked tough, on guard, enough that Griffen had little worry that anyone would try to push past him. Still, Griffen could see the relief in his eyes. It was obvious he didn’t want to go back into the room, and Slim had come up with a good way to save face from outside.
Slim winked at Griffen and walked over to him. His expression made it clear that he caught the kid’s relief, too.
“You ready to face the unknown, Moderator?” Slim said nodding to the door.
“Doesn’t look like I have much of a choice,” Griffen observed.
“Good. ’Cause I can’ts wait to see what gots the pup all riled like.”
Slim grinned and opened the door. Griffen had no problem with letting him go in first. The bathroom door was open, but from the entranceway Griffen couldn’t see inside. He did hear the young wolf whimper slightly as he passed.
Griffen carefully closed the hall door before moving forward.
Before he took another step, a wave of stench rolled over him with almost physical force. It made him think of stagnant water and a men’s urinal that hadn’t been cleaned in years. He didn’t know for sure, but assuming garou had more acute senses of smell than most people, he understood more why one wouldn’t want to come back in the room after getting out.
Then he could see into the bathroom, and he couldn’t stop himself from staring.
Slim, standing next to him and staring just as openly, said it best.
“Sheee-iiit.”
The figure in the bathroom was big, a good seven feet if it stood up straight, but it was hunched over, its posture ape-like. It seemed to be made completely of plant matter. A swirling mass of bark and vines and moss mimicked skin. Grasslike hair spread in a lawn halfway down its back. Each piece of vegetation seeming to writhe of its own accord. It was constantly in motion even while hulking there. Algae spread over its chest bubbled slightly as it breathed.
Griffen couldn’t help noticing it had mushrooms growing between its toes.
“What is it?” Griffen asked.
“I don’ have a single clue. Somethin’ local, I think. Heard ’bout somethin’ similar. A spirit of the swamps,” Slim said.
“Somehow I don’t think spirit fits. Anything that smells that bad has to be mostly corporeal,” Griffen said, trying to fight off shock with humor.
