***
“I’m a warlock, Paul.” Mary chuckled. “Surely your friend Troy has told you who warlocks are. And you’re right. Those wolves are pretty powerful. But they are no match for me. You see, I knew they would try to come for you. After all, they have a resident warlock. All they need is something personal of yours to trace you. Well, guess what…they traced you alright.” She paused for effect. “To somewhere in Oklahoma City.”
“What the fu…”
“Hey, hey mind your language.” Mary groaned. “What’s the word you use these days? Clone, right? Well, someone who looks exactly like you was sent to another state. You, I’ve cloaked so they can’t trace you. They can only get to your double but not you.”
“Why would you do that?” Paul whispered, wrapping his arms around himself. He felt cold all of a sudden. “What do you plan on doing with me?”
“Well, I’m going to tell you because you’ve been a friend to my Troy,” Mary said sweetly. “That double of yours is going to explode like a bomb as soon as he touches Jeremy.”
“What?” Paul choked. “What has Jeremy done to you?”
“Long story.” Mary waved a hand dismissively. “Let’s just say we need to take that werewolf out if we want to defeat that pack. Once he’s out of the way, those wolves won’t stand a chance against my hired rogue wolves and witches. The icing on the cake, of course, will be me getting my son back.”
“Your son?” Paul looked at the woman curiously. “They took your son?” What was wrong with supernatural beings and kidnappings, Paul wondered. First Troy, then him, then the woman’s son…
“Yes, Troy. That’s my son.” Mary said simply and watched as Paul’s brows creased in confusion.
“But… But Troy is with his mother right now.” Paul said. “That’s Gloria. She…”
“I am his mother.” Mary cut Paul off in a tone so lethal Paul took a step back. “That woman can never be his mother.”
“But you said you’re a warlock.” Paul pointed out warily, watching how tightly the woman’s grip on the arms of the chair was. Even her knuckles had turned white. “Troy is a werewolf just like his mother…wait…” His eyes went wide as if a lightbulb had gone off in his head. “You are those warlocks who kidnapped Troy when he was a kid. But he said the wolves killed all of you…”
“Clearly, some of us got lucky.” Mary shrugged. “But those wolves are going to pay for what they did. By the time I’m through with them, there won’t be anything left of that pack.”
“You must be Mary,” Paul whispered. “He told me about you. Can’t you just…” Paul sighed. “…forgive and forget?”
“Forgive and forget?” Mary gave an incredulous laugh. “Really? I’m neither Jesus nor do I have Alzheimer’s.”
“God, he actually likes you.” Paul’s eyes flashed with anger and shock.
“Actually, he loves me like any child loves their mother.” Mary’s voice softened.
“Lady, you need to get an alarm clock so you can wake the hell up.” Paul snapped. “Troy loves Mama G, not you.”
“How dare you…” Mary growled as she shot to her feet so fast the chair she’d been sitting on toppled over. “I’m going to make you regret saying that to me.” She whispered, the look in her eyes deadly.
“Don’t do this,” Paul said quietly. “His family had a hard time convincing him that you lot are killers. In fact, he’s still not a hundred percent convinced. What you’re doing will crush him. And Jeremy…that’s his brother for fuck’s sake.”
“Those animals are not his family. And that freak of nature is not his brother. My husband’s mission had been to capture him to be sacrificed. He was supposed to die. So apart from the fact that I need him out of the way, I’m doing this for my husband.” Mary’s growl would have made a wrestler proud.
“What about me?” Paul asked desperately. He could see from Mary’s eyes how his earlier words about Troy loving his real mother had pissed her off. He hoped he hadn’t worsened his case.
“Well, you have to pray your clone succeeds his mission,” Mary said. “If he doesn’t and they’re able to figure out that it isn’t you but one of my witches, they’ll kill him…and then I’ll have to send you in there…as my explosive.”
“Christ…” Paul whispered, his face white with terror.
“Aw come on, you won’t even feel it.” Mary’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “It’s going to be an explosion, not torture. “In fact, I think I’ll send those fools on a bit of a wild goose chase to give ourselves more time to perfect our strategy and also to frustrate them. I’ll send two or three more clones if the current one doesn’t succeed. Then finally, I’ll send you in. You see, they’re animals. And it’s in their nature to make mistakes when they’re angered and frustrated.” She shrugged. “That’s just how they are. We need to take advantage of that.” She gave a small laugh. “So that’s what’s going to happen to you, unfortunately.”
“Oh my god.” Paul gasped. If any of his doubles succeeded, Jeremy and whoever would be standing close to him would die. If on the other hand, those clones didn’t succeed, he was going to die with Jeremy. “You’re mad, lady.” Paul breathed. “I wasn’t born with enough middle fingers to express how I feel about you right now. Those clones are not going to succeed. And I will kill myself before I get anywhere near Jeremy.”
“Brave words.” Mary chuckled. “I like that. But fortunately or unfortunately, the deadly spell I’ve placed on you is not going to allow anything to happen to you till you’re spotted by Jeremy. You cannot write or speak to warn anyone. It will all be in your head, darling. Your non-magical nature is just what I needed.”
“What if any of them succeeds?” Paul breathed shakily. “What happens to me then?”
“You will have to suffer an unfortunate accident, caused by a wolf of course,” Mary said sweetly as if she wasn’t telling Paul about his own death. “It will be a plus for my son to witness how a wolf murdered his dear friend, don’t you think?” Paul didn’t think he’d seen a more evil grin on a person’s face.
“I was going to give you a nasty look but I see that you’ve already got one.” Paul sneered.
“Wow, you’ve got a mouth on you, young man.” Mary shook her head. “Certainly not the kind of person I want around my son. Now, if you’ll excuse me. My team and I need to get ready for your wolf friends.”
As Paul watched Mary leave, he felt numb all over. He knew his time had come to die because he was bound to be around Jeremy if he got rescued eventually. From what Mary had planned, it might not even come to that but either way, he was fucked.
“Oh, god.” Paul looked down at his trembling hands. His fate was sealed!