《The Demon and the Beast》Chapter 19.

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"Hello Henry," I greeted him, a polite smile on my face. "I heard you had a rough night." Henry, truly the son of a wealthy businessman, said nothing, just fidgeted his legs nervously. "Alright. Please come with me, you shouldn’t be in here unless you have claws and teeth." It was supposed to be a joke, but as soon as I said it, the images of my claws in his shoulders from the night I met him played in my head. In some movies, a scratch was enough to transfer… this. Interestingly enough Henry froze and swallowed hard. But surely there was no way.

"This way Henry." I opened the door and motioned for him to get up. Henry took a deep breath and stood up slowly. I carefully placed my hand on his back and lead him to the sheriff's office. Simon was already waiting in front of it with a plastic bag containing Henry's belongings.

"Thanks." I picked up the bag and opened the door for Henry. He frowned at the office suspiciously, but obediently walked in and sat down in a chair by the table. I closed the door and regretted that there was no lock on it. I at least pulled down the blinds and sat down in the leather chair behind the table, placing the bag on it. The room wasn't very big, just a table with three chairs, a few lockers and drawers for all sorts of papers, and then a huge whiteboard.

"Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?" I asked, unpacking the bag and placing his belongings on the table.

"Bruises and scratches are hardly a reason to stay in the hospital," he replied in a low voice. I looked over his belongings. A leather wallet, a phone, keys, a Bandi customer card - I didn't even know such a shop was in Wadena - even a pocket knife very similar to mine and a brown jacket, but no camera.

"Where is it?" I looked up at him, speaking in a calm voice, though my smile faded. Henry gave me a puzzled look, but I noticed the small twitch of his lips. "Where’s the camera?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He tried to hide it, but I could smell how nervous he felt.

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"I know you had a camera or a GoPro with you, whatever it was, where did you put it?" Quickly I went through the pockets in his jacket.

"And how would you know that?" Well, that sounded quite defensive though his eyes remained on the jacket. I was on the right track it seemed, but I didn't find anything in the pockets. Only after a moment of unpleasant silence did I manage to find an inner pocket in which there was an inner-inner pocket and in it… A small black camera.

"How did you know that! No one was there, no one saw me!” Henry rose from his chair indignantly, but I took his elbow and pulled him back down.

"Quiet! You don't want to be locked up in the interrogation room again do you?” I turned on the camera and found the photos. I gave a shaky breath of relief as I saw them. Though I couldn’t even say why I was so nervous. No one could possibly recognize me. There were two photos. The lens of the camera was obviously a little wet from the rain and the street was unlit, so my black fur was absolutely invisible, there was only one unrecognizable white smudge with a few red spots. The second photo was just a dark wet street.

"You know about them! You know something, but you don't want to tell me!” Henry growled at me.

"You can keep this." I put the camera back in the jacket and finally feeling a bit better I sank into the role of an officer. "Mr. Staiton, what exactly were you doing last night?"

"I have a better question, what exactly were you looking for in my camera?" He frowned.

"You were looking for it - the wolf, because no one believed you, they thought you were crazy, so you wanted proof." I guessed ignoring his question.

His expression told me I was right. "It's not one wolf." He sighed sounding quite broken. "There are two... But only one of them is a killer!"

"If I remember well, the black wolf killed two people." My mouth went dry as I remembered the night.

"That doesn’t count! They were trying to kill me! He was helping me!" It was strange to watch how passionately Henry defended it - me.

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"Murder is murder,” I argued coldly. “Why would a wild wolf help you anyway?" Henry had no answer for that. He opened his mouth then closed it again and leaned back in his chair hiding his face in his hands.

"Something's going on here... Something weird and I'll figure out what," he said stubbornly.

"No. You won't." I sighed, ready for his angry and shocked expression. "They could have killed you yesterday, you have to stop going around town at night." He immediately wanted to object, but I stopped him. "It's too dangerous! Leave it to the police… Leave it to me.” Henry was still not satisfied with that though that could’ve been expected. "I believe you, Henry… I believe you saw them, a white and a black wolf. I will find them, I promise. And I'll get rid of them, once and for all. Both of them…” I looked down at the dark wood of the table. The white wolf deserved nothing but death. And so did I… I killed… This was not war or police work. Now I was the maniac killing for pleasure. And when all of this was over... I shook my head and looked up at Henry, who was still watching me.

"What the… I'd swear your eyes…" he whispered quietly. I quickly looked away and got up.

"Don't look for them, Henry. Even the nicest dog’s nerves can snap and these two go straight for the neck," I muttered and left the office quickly.

"So how did it go?" Simon waited at the door, but I didn't have time to answer. I shielded my eyes and ran for the men's room, my heart pounding. When I looked up into the mirror my normally bright blue-green eyes had a yellow tinge to them, slowly becoming brighter. "Andrew, what’s wrong?" Simon appeared in the doorway and I quickly turned my back on him.

"It… It’s nothing… I just get sick. Sometimes. From the meds," I said, trying to keep the panic from my voice. Did Henry recognize me? He couldn’t possibly realize what I was right?

"Do you want something to drink or eat?" Simon offered immediately.

"Coffee please.” Good little Simon immediately headed for the coffee machine. "Thanks," I called after him. When the door closed behind him, I slowly turned back to the mirror. My eyes were back to normal. I blinked slowly a few more times, and when nothing changed, I opened the door. A few people gave me confused looks, but I ignored them and sat down at my desk.

"One black coffee, anything else, my lord?" Simon grinned and placed a cup of coffee in front of me. I chuckled, but in the end, something else did occur to me.

"Actually… Could you tell me who's in charge of Amelia Kaska's case?” I turned on my computer and began searching for her file.

"Um… Nobody," Simon replied, confused. "She was killed by an animal, we both saw it." Oh… Right. So how the hell was I supposed to investigate werewolf murders when they all got classified as animal attacks?

“Andrew? So how did it go?” Caroline appeared at the desk. As I looked up at her, I noticed that the door to the sheriff's office was open and empty inside.

"Two wolves, one black and one white killed three people, and Henry tried to take a picture of them so that everyone would finally believe him," I summed up with a bitter gaze. I wished I could tell Henry the truth, but I couldn't. No one was allowed to find out… No one…

"Two?" Caroline sighed in despair and left, muttering something under her breath. But before she got out of earshot, she turned to us and gave us a job. "Since you are so good at interrogations you and Simon will go to the Wadena Hospital and hear out a certain older woman. Officer Johnson should be waiting for you there.”

With a sigh, I got up and we headed for the car. I myself was thinking about the white wolf and Henry and did my best to ignore Simon who was staring at me with a suspicious look. The world was suddenly too complicated, the reality too burdensome. I felt dazed…

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