Here in Heaven

Chapter 3

“Want anything?,” Drew hollered across the gas station parking lot as he yanked the t-shirt Jose threw him down over his tousled auburn hair.

Jose stopped laughing long enough to yell back, asking for a blue slushie. He could hear Drew’s loud voice without needing his wolf hearing even after the heavy glass door of the gas station swung shut.

Calm down! I’ve got my shirt on old man!

The elderly male clerk inside was holding his own, shouting back at Drew in heavily accented broken English. The man just finished kicking all three of the young wolves of his business for strolling in wearing only low-slung board shorts. Jose guessed their removal from the small convenience store had less to do with the no shoes, no shorts, no service sign on the door and more to do with the way the man’s teenage granddaughter ogled them while she was stocking a candy display near the door. The poor girl dropped chocolate bars all over the floor. Drew gave the girl a wink as he moved to help her pick the candy up. Then grandpa blew a gasket.

Unlike some other supernaturals, werewolves could easily pass for human. Only a trained eye could spot the distinguishing characteristics. Wolves are larger than most humans. Their bodies are more muscular. Their bones are denser and harder to break. This combined with the excess muscle makes them heavier. Wolves have better eyesight and hearing. They are faster and stronger, some to the point where they have to be careful how quickly they move when they are off the packlands and in the human cities lest they unintentionally reveal themselves. Human females are often uncontrollably drawn to male wolves. A trait that some males felt compelled to take advantage of.

“Think fast,” Drew hollered.

He tossed the large styrofoam cup towards Jose with unnecessary force. Jose caught it without spilling a drop and brought the straw up to his lips, sucking down a long drink of the overly sweet liquid. The day was hot and the sloshy ice and sugar mix felt good going down. The boys were on their way to the beach. Drew heard some of the unmated girls from a neighboring pack might be there. But even if they weren't, it was a beautiful day for swimming or paddle boarding.

Jose turned and opened the door to his truck. Before he could climb in, his slushie exploded. Jose looked down at himself in disgust. No permanent damage was done but his darkly tanned chest and white board shorts were covered in sticky blue gunk.

Mikey leaned over from the passenger seat and started laughing.

“What the hell man,” Jose grumbled.

Mikey was still laughing as he climbed out of the car and stood up to his full 6 foot and 4 inches, rubbing his hand over his short crop of blonde hair. Jose dropped the popped styrofoam cup into a nearby trash can between two gas pumps. Then she started trying to swipe some of the sticky mess off himself on onto the pavement at his feet.

“I didn’t do anything,” Mikey insisted, “you musta been gripping that cup like it was your d**k!”

By now Drew had walked across the small parking lot to laugh at Mikey’s joke.

“If you want napkins you can go in and get them yourself,” Drew announced with more laughter, “because I am NOT going back in there.”

The old grandpa inside looked ready to pull out the half-busted old shotgun he kept under the counter if Drew even breathed in his granddaughter's direction again. Normal bullets wouldn’t cause him any permanent damage, but getting shot with them still didn’t sound like a good time. Drew tossed his friend the large bottle of water he purchased for himself inside the store. Jose twisted the top open. But before he started using the water to rinse the slushie away, he froze. A low growl rumbled out of his throat. His wolf Blitz had his hackles up. A cool breeze was blowing in from the west. And with it came the acrid smell of magic.

Jose spotted the source immediately. There were three of them standing in front of a sleek black convertible Porsche. Warlocks. Even if Jose couldn’t already smell them he would have known immediately that the men were more than human. The extra dark lens sunglasses they wore gave them away. Like wolves, the warlocks could easily pass for human. Except for their eyes. When they used their magic, their eyes took on an intense glow.

Jose felt Mikey’s hand on his chest, pressing him back. And he knew the reason for his friend’s hesitance to retaliate. Part of it was the warning they received from the council not more than a month before. Fighting where they could be seen by humans was prohibited. While the council would often turn a blind eye to minor scuffles, the ongoing feud between the Gold Mountain Pack and the Midnight Shadow Coven had resulted in several fights large enough to warrant the council’s intervention. They were given what the council described as their last warning. Mikey didn’t want to find out what the council did after the last warning.

The other reason Mikey hesitated was the taller warlock standing between the other two. That wasn’t just any run of the mill warlock. That was Trevor Black, Daniel Darko’s nephew and heir to the Midnight Shadow pack. True to his name, the tall slender man was dressed in black dress pants and a black button-down dress shirt despite the heat. The shirt was unbuttoned down far enough to reveal the armored vest underneath. A gun holster was fastened over Trevor’s shoulders and Jose could see the shiny silver plating of the gun winking in the morning sunlight. Not only was the gun plated in pure sterling silver, Jose knew it was filled with silver bullets as well.

“It’s not worth it over a slushie,” Mikey said, speaking in a hushed tone.

Mikey was son to their pack’s Beta. And nephew to their Alpha. As the son of a warrior, Jose had no official rank. Mikey could command him if he chose and Jose would be forced to listen. But Mikey wasn’t pulling rank. Not yet. Right now he was only speaking to Jose as a friend.

Jose nodded reluctantly. He didn’t relax his body but he did take a step back and open the driver’s side door of his truck. He rested his hand on the frame of the truck as he took one more swipe at the larger chunks of blue slushie that were stuck to his chest. Mikey was heading back for the other side of the vehicle when he heard Jose yelp in pain.

The truck door moved so quickly Jose wasn't able to move his hand in time even with his wolf speed. Now the door was shut with his hand wedged in between the frame and the door. He was bleeding and it was obvious that several of his fingers were broken. And his hand was still being painfully pinched by the door.

Jose grabbed at the handle of the door with his free hand and yanked, trying to open the door. It was stuck tight. He could see from the button inside that the door wasn’t locked. Mikey pushed in and started yanking frantically at the door. Even with his wolf strength it wasn’t budging. Mikey yanked harder. The door handle broke off the car and sent him flying backwards on his ass. Jose glanced over at the warlocks. Trevor lowered his sunglasses, revealing his glowing red eyes. He winked at Jose before he pushed the glasses back up.

“Let him go you f*****g haint!,” Drew screamed.

The three warlocks turned at the sound of the slur being hollered at them. But they looked too late to save themselves from the full trash barrel Drew hurled at them from the other side of the parking lot. The large can hit Trevor Black head on, knocking him backwards head over heels into his convertible. Drew threw the can with such force that it exploded as it hit, filling Trevor’s car with stinky gas station garbage.

The truck door instantly swung back open. Jose hit the ground, gripping his wrist with the other hand. His brown eyes went black as his wolf Blitz came to the surface to heal his injuries. The surface cuts healed immediately. Jose groaned in pain as the bones in his fingers reset, snapping back in place. Though he wasn’t ranked, his lineage was strong with ranked blood on his mother’s side. It never took his wolf long to heal him. Jose was back on his feet while Trevor Black was still upside down in his trash-covered Porsche.

“Who’s trashy now?,” Drew hollered at the three warlocks. The large redhead was nearly doubled over with laughter as he admired his handiwork.

Jose couldn’t help but smile. Drew was laughing and hollering at the other men as the two warlocks attempted to fish their fearless leader out of a messy garbage heap. Even the two warlocks were knocked back a few steps when the blast of energy burst from the car. Garbage from the busted can flew out, littering the entire parking lot. Trevor Black’s glasses were broken and hanging from his face. Both his eyes were glowing bright red. He was levitating a few inches off the pavement, both his hands already lit with crackling bolts of electricity.

Jose ducked behind the car door and braced himself for the blast he knew was coming. Thankfully most of the humans in the area had already backed up when Drew threw the garbage can. But they were still in the area, watching the show with open mouths and looks of pure terror on their faces. Inevitably, a few of them were sure to be recording the incident with their phones. The blast knocked Jose back. His left arm and leg took the worst of the hit as his skin scraped across the pavement.

Jose fought the urge to shift. There were too many humans around. They were already going to catch hell from the council. But if someone caught him shifting on camera it was going to be a lot worse. Instead, he rolled behind the truck and got back onto his feet. Drew must have had the same idea he had because he already had the glove box open before Jose got there. Drew pulled out a wicked-looking taser. The jolt of electricity temporarily stopped the warlocks from being able to use their powers. It also stung like a b***h.

Mikey was the closest to them. He jumped forward over the blast of energy. Drew screamed his name as he threw the taser. Mikey caught it without slowing down. He was using his wolf speed, heading for Trevor Black before the man had time to hit them with another spell. Trevor saw him coming and levitated again, this time higher and faster. This moved him quickly out of Mikey’s way. But his friend was not as quick.

The man was not quite as tall as Trevor, which made him at least 6 inches shorter than Mikey and probably half his weight. Mikey barrelled into the smaller man like a freight train, smashing him down hard onto the ground. The warlock’s eyes began to glow as he latched his fingers onto Mikey’s arm. From the golden color, Jose knew the man drew his power from the air. That meant he could suffocate Mikey by drawing the air out of his lungs. But Mikey was ready. Jose heard the distinct sound of the electric taser as Mikey ground it against the smaller man’s body and shocked him repeatedly.

Trevor Black landed soundlessly on his black polished boots. His eyes were still glowing red as he pulled his silver-plated gun from its holster. He pointed the gun at Mikey.

“YOU NO MAKE FIGHT AT MY STORE!!!”

The loud scream came from the door of the gas station. The elderly clerk had a large double-barreled shotgun in his hands. Both groups of boys turned towards the man, unsure of what to do about this new human contender in their fight.

Trevor was the only one with a gun in his hands. So the old man set his sights on the tall slim man and fired. Even with his wolf speed, Jose found it hard to follow exactly what happened. Trevor’s other companion’s eyes were glowing green behind his dark shades. Which meant he could alter time. Jose guessed the man slowed time down enough for Trevor to get out of the way of the man’s bullet.

After he fired at Trevor, the old man turned his anger towards Drew. Drew was the one that flirted with his granddaughter earlier. And he was the one that threw the giant trash barrel. The man aimed the gun at Drew and c****d it. Then he fired. Drew had ample time to get out of the way. But behind him was the gas pump. Suddenly, all Jose could smell was gas. Rivers of it were flowing from the pump, soaking the ground around all of them. Jose saw the red glow in Trevor’s eyes light up again. The next thing he knew, there was fire everywhere. Both gas pumps exploded.