ECHO [Rewritten - NaNoWriMo '16]

Chapter 19: A Bucket of Blood

16 March 2016

Somewhere Over Kansas

Wren

I honestly didn't know what was going on. Part of me was still in shock from what had happened only – I looked at my watch – three hours ago. I looked at Echo, who was several rows ahead of me, and in the middle. I could only see her blonde hair, a hint of her cheek, and her chorded arm. For the first time, I had seen something else in her. Human, but not one hundred percent when it came to sanity.

I kept replaying the scene in my head. The scene between Echo and the woman who Howl had told him was R. I had seen the blonde assassin fight before but this time had been different. Messy almost, yet more violent, and more intense. It was obvious that on both sides, they weren't just fighting for their lives. They were battling against the emotions that had been creating its own war for quite some time. It had unnerved me, especially when I discovered what R meant to Echo. To kill the one you love in such a way was something that didn't click for me. It intimidated me and made me realize – truly realize – what separated the agents of ALDAR from the rest of the world. Their humanity and compassion had been stripped, their common sense of what was right and wrong was twisted. The world through their eyes was simply red. And even a simple human like Echo was more of a monster than the ones she had been surrounded by.

This also made me think about some other things. Echo had let Howl live, she had fallen in love, and she had turned against ALDAR, and had gone so far to recruit me. It meant that Echo was different among the different. It made me wonder what kind of person she would have been had she not been roped into ALDAR.

But I had also realized that she could never be normal. She couldn't even pretend that she was. It was why she was an Interrogator and not a Seducer. She couldn't hide from her emotions, no matter how much she tried. She couldn't change herself into a different shape just so that she could be a square peg that fits into the square hole. And watching her fight, something else had clicked. This war with ALDAR, it was a war that she would fight bitterly until she won. And by winning, she would take her final breath.

Manhattan, New York

Wren

I stared up at the ceiling in the hotel room, unable to sleep. It wasn't jetlag,...or maybe it was. I didn't know. Whatever was wrong, it felt as though my entire body was buzzing with barely restrained energy. He wanted to do something; he wanted to do something physical that would cause his muscles to burn and his skin to sweat. But instead he had to lie in this bed that was too soft. Echo had disappeared not long after they landed.

Unable to take it anymore, I threw back the sheets, and got up. I walked over to the small kitchen area and filled up a glass with tap water. I drained it in one gulp. I rested my elbows on the counter and covered my face with my hands. What the fuck was I doing?

"Can't sleep?"

I turned to see Howl. The man's blond hair was only slightly tousled, as though he had simply rested his head on the pillow. He wore black pants the exposed his lean, muscular arms. I ran a hand through my own hair, which was longer than I liked. "No, I can't. You?"

"Same," Howl came to stand next to him, resting his body against the counter. "You're worried about her, aren't you?"

"I'm worried about all of us," I snapped, defensive. "Echo just vanishes without a trace, without a word, and you're totally fine with that. And how in the hell did Aurora get here when she was not on the plane?"

Howl threw his head back and laughed. That apparently didn't seem to express his amusement enough because he pushed away from the counter, gripping his stomach. I blinked, not amused in the slightest because I was actually curious. The mare that I was referring to was standing in the corner of the hotel. She flicked her tail at me as Howl finally calmed down his literal howling and settled onto a chair. "I'll admit, you are one amusing fellow."

"Says the cannibal with a fucking horse for a familiar," I pointed out.

Howl snorted, "I make myself laugh with that one."

I blinked.

Howl stood and wandered over to me. "I make you extremely uncomfortable, don't I?"

"No," I frowned at his swaying hips. "And you're avoiding my question."
"Are you honestly not able to figure it out? Familiars are our souls, they take a shape, and yeah you can pet them. But if they don't want to be corporeal, they don't have to be." Howl stopped in front of me.

I closed my eyes, "Yep, I didn't even think of that."

"I don't blame you, you've got a lot on your mind." One moment all was fine, and the next there was a nose next to my neck and a deep inhale. I screeched and my eyes snapped open to see Howl's mouth dangerously close to my neck. I proceeded to violently shove his head away from me, crawl on top of the counter, and fall on the other side. I immediately stood back up, grabbed a knife, and held it pointed at him. Howl burst into laughter again. "Ah, civilians. How I've missed being around you. It's so amusing how you always think that you can defend yourselves against us. See, if I truly wanted to, you wouldn't be able to stop me."

There was a snarl and before I knew it, the hand that had had the knife was twisted behind my back. I could hear it clatter to the floor behind me. Talons were wrapped around my wrist. Another set was gripping me neck. Howl's breath kissed me ear. And when he spoke, it was still his sensual, deep voice. But now there was grit, a menacing growl just on the edge. "I've only known one human who could defeat me, and you are definitely not her."

"What happened that night she spared your life?" I asked.

"Ah," Howl's grip loosened though he did not back away. "I was coming back from a mission, walking along the street. The moon was only half full, and I was tired. Next thing I knew, Aurora was brought down like an impressive sack of potatoes –" she nickered in protest "- what? You were? Anyways, and I couldn't even react. Paiute had Aurora at a very delicate point in her neck. Echo stalked towards me, and without a word, sliced open my arm and put a bucket under the stream of blood. I knew without a doubt that she was the new Interrogator. But she was so incredibly young. It was shocking. She didn't say much, just held a gun to my head as blood filled the bucket. She then proceeded to give me an IV with new blood, and stitched me up. She told me that I could never go back to ALDAR. If I tried, she would kill me before I walked through the doors. And then she simply vanished. It was the oddest experience of my life."

I couldn't decide whether I wanted to laugh or shake my head. Because that sounded just like something Echo would do. "What did she need a bucket of blood for?"

"She got a body that was similar to mine, broke countless bones, ripped out his teeth. And she splashed blood everywhere in the room. And set it on fire. The blood was a precaution in case they tried to identify the body." Howl said. He finally stepped away. I turned to see that he looked mostly the same; only the features of his face were rougher, more animal.

"Where do you think she went now?" I asked.

Howl blinked, "She'll come back when it's time."