The stale air of the cell was aggravating to Jake. He was seated on the edge of his bunk.
The encounter with the..thing on his porch, and his wife's betrayal, and the strange transformation of his hands, the voice in his head..
It was all too much.
He felt like he had stumbled into a bizarre, low budget horror movie, and he wasn't even sure he had the lead role.
More like the confused extra who gets eaten in the first act.
He glanced down at his hands, moving his fingers. They seemed pretty normal now, there was no sign of the claws that sprouted just hours ago. But the burning sensation still lingered beneath his skin.
He closed his eyes, focusing on the familiar voice again, the words that had echoed in his mind..
He still didn't understand what it meant.
He concentrated, trying to access the voice again, in an attempt to glean any information about his..Lineage. This time, the response was more than just a phrase.
A translucent display similar to the one's he had seen in fancy VR games his nephew was always playing—shimmered into existence before his eyes.
[ Name: Jake McMillan ]
[ Rank: Spawn ]
[ Vitriol: 1/1000 ]
[ Somatic I: 0/1000 ]
[ Lineage: Alpha ]
[ Description: In the crucible of a clash, fueled by the fierce instead of a cornered beast, he tore through the illusion of normalcy and gained the Alpha's mantle. His lineage is not born of the moon's fickle whims. ]
Jake blinked, rereading the description. It sounded..epic. A little over the top maybe, but definitely epic. He wasn't just some random Werewolf, he was an Alpha.
He grinned, he liked the sound of that.
Below the description, more information appeared:
Alpha Lineage Traits:
Iron Will: Your resolve is unshakeable, granting you increased resistance to mental manipulation and fear inducing effects. Panic and doubt are foreign concepts to your primal mind.
Echolocation: You perceive the world through vibrations, granting you enhanced awareness of your surroundings, even in complete darkness. You hear the subtle shifts in air pressure, the tremors in the ground, the very heartbeat of your prey.
Kinetic Absorption (Nascent): Your body passively absorbs kinetic energy from impacts, storing it within your muscles. This nascent ability grants a slight increase in strength and resilience with each blow you withstand. With time and training, you will be able to unleash this stored energy in devastating bursts.
Jake reread the traits, a slow smile spreads across his face.
Iron Will, Echolocation, Kinetic Absorption.
They all sounded like something out of a comic book. He always secretly wanted to be a superhero during his childhood. And now it seemed, he was getting his chance. He might be stuck in a jail fell, framed for a murder he didn't commit, but..he was an Alpha.
It was pretty damn cool. He moved his fingers about again.
He close his eyes, focusing on his Echolocation trait. He tried to listen with something other than his ears. At first, it was just the usual cacophony of jailhouse sounds: the distant clang of a metal door, the muffled shouts of other inmates, the drip of a leaky faucet.
But then beneath those noises, he began to perceive something else. A vibration in the very fabric of the building. He could feel the pulse of the city outside, the distant traffic, the electricity flowing through wires.
It was.. overwhelming. He opened his eyes, his head was spinning.
It was like suddenly having access to a sense he never knew existed.
He took a deep breath, trying to focus, to filter the overwhelming input. He concentrated on the cell next to his. He could hear the inmate's ragged breathing, the restless shifting on his bunk, the frantic beating of his heart.
He focused closer, trying to 'see' through the vibrations. He could sense the shape of the man, huddled in the corner, his arms are wrapped around his knees. He could even feel the fear that radiated from him.
This..was incredible. He could hear fear. He could feel it. He focused on the guard patrolling the corridor outside. He could hear his heavy footsteps, the jingle of his keys, and his steady breathing.
He could even sense the faint tang of the taser on the officer's belt.
The cell door creaked open, and the mustached officer from the interrogation room stopped inside, his sneer was still firmly in place.
"McMillan," he growled. "You have a visitor."
Jake blinked, momentarily pulled from his sensory experiments. A visitor? He didn't call anyone. Certainly not his wife, not after...well, everything. And he sure as hell didn't have a lawyer on retainer.
Maybe it was a mistake?
"Visitor?" Jake asked, standing up slowly. "I wasn't expecting anyone."
The officer just grunted out of agitation. "Move it. Don't keep em' waiting."
Jake shuffled out of the cell, with the officer close behind him.
As they walked down the sterile corridor, Jake tried to focus his Echolocation again, this time it was on the visitor's room ahead.
He could sense two heartbeats inside: one was steady and slow, belonging to another guard. The other was..different. it was calm, and almost unnaturally steady.
It lacked the faint sound of anxiety or impatience he sensed in most people.
'Weird,' Jake thought. 'Who the heck is this calm?'
They reached the visitor's room; a small, bleak space with a metal table and two chairs bolted to the floor, separated by a thick pane of reinforced glass. The mustached officer shoved Jake into the chair on his side.
Sitting opposite him was a woman. She looked to be in her late twenties or early twenties, with intelligent golden eyes and dark hair pulled back into a bun. She wore a crisp, dark grey pantsuit that screamed expensive lawyer.
Her posture was perfect, her hands are clasped neatly on the table in front of her. She offered a small professional smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Mr. McMillan," she said:
"My name is Seraphina Dubois. I'm an attorney. I'm here to discuss your case."
Jake stared at her. Dubois? He never heard of her. And he definitely never hired her.
"My lawyer?"
Jake frowned, leaning closer to the glass partition.
"I don't have a lawyer, I certainly can't afford you," he added:
He was looking at her obviously high end suit. He might be new to the whole supernatural Alpha thing, but he still knew expensive tailoring when he saw it.
Seraphina's smile remained fixed. "Let's just say a concerned party is covering my retainer for now, Mr. McMillan. They believe you may have been..unfairly implicated."
She tilted her head slightly, with her golden eyes fixed on him.
Using his Echolocation, Jake felt a subtle shift in the air around her, it seemed to absorb sound rather than reflect it.
It was different from the guard, different from the inmate next door, and especially different from anything he heard before.
There was a depth to her presence that vibrated on a frequency his senses were barely able to decipher.
It wasn't hostile exactly, but it was..powerful.
"Okay,' Jake thought. A bit of his old humor resurfaced despite the absurdity.
'So, not just a lawyer. Maybe a superhero lawyer? Or is she the villain's lawyer? Man, this is getting complicated.'
"Unfairly implicated?"
Jake repeated, trying to sound less bewildered than he felt.
"Yeah, you could say that. Getting attacked by a... giant furball, my wife betraying me, and then getting blamed for the furball's mess? Definitely unfair."
Seraphina raised an eyebrow, her expression was incredulous.
"Furball?"
Jake nodded and spoke again:
"Yeah," he leaned toward the reinforced glass after glancing at the officer, lowering his voice.
"It was a werewolf, my wife was cheating on me, with a werewolf!"
Seraphina's golden eyes slightly widened.
Unbelievable. Another idiot who ignored the Iron Crown. She shook her head almost imperceptibly.
"I see, that certainly complicates matters."
She paused, her gaze drifted past Jake to the mustached officer standing guard. A subtle shift occured.
It was as if she was tuning an instrument, focusing her will.
The officer blinked, his sneer faltered instantly. He shifted slightly, an odd sense of unease appeared across his face.
He suddenly felt an irresistible compulsion to look away from Jake, to busy himself with something else.
He glanced at his watch, a frown creased his brow.
"Time's almost up," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
Seraphina's attention returned to Jake, her smile returned. It was slightly warmer.
"Mr. McMillan," she started to speak to him quietly:
"I believe we can resolve this situation. However, I'll need your full cooperation."
She leaned forward slightly.
"Tell me everything that happened, from the very beginning. Leave out no detail, no matter how insignificant it may seem."
He began to recount the events of the previous night, the furball, the lies from his wife, the transformation, and the voice.