Opposite Side Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Something bad had happened in the house to have provoked her. A blood witch didn’t just let her magic go, as Leslie seemed to be doing in the smallish three bedroom house. One thing you try not to do is anger a witch, their power could make a god quiver when let loose. Wild and free, and they could bend that energy to do anything they pleased with it. The house stank of old blood which any Opposite could smell just passing by. They were passed the anonymous call. They got all the nut cases, and they took them. They fixed the problem and went on to the next case. They had a good/bad reputation with solving cases quickly, even though their means were not by the books.

Colin and Patrick leaned against the black SUV as the sun started to go down. The tan prefab house in front of them shook and shivered with enough magic to make even the normal humans look around uneasy. The early spring weather seemed cold yet not as bad as the cold winter they had had. And they both remarked on how the rain from the previous night had made everything look a little greener and healthier, avoiding what could really be happening in the house. The house seemed to groan with the pressure of the magic.

Colin, his unruly dyed black hair falling in his sky blue eyes, looked over at Patrick. "Should we help her?"

Patrick let the sun bath him, as he shook his head. "She might flay us alive or something."

Colin leaned against the SUV once more, light blue eyes watching the house. He did not want to be flayed alive. A bee flew up to Patrick, he shooed it away with a quick flick of his large hand, and then ran it over his military cut blondish brown hair. The door to the house swung open with a loud bang, and two short and very scared men came running out. They fell to the ground before the SUV, pleading in their own language and slobbering on each other.

Patrick watched as some of the troll dribble fell on his black steel-toed boots. It made a small hissing sound. "Calm it down boys," he said. He heaved himself away from the SVU and pulled warded handcuffs from his pocket. They were normal, except for the runes marked in the stainless steel.

Before he and Colin could handcuff the two crying trolls, Leslie came out of the house. Her essence rode the air, magic, both dark and light and tasted like blood. Anger did not go well with a blood witch, the darkness radiated from her. The unseen magic made her short wavy brown hair seem alive, as it moved in an unfeelable wind. Her eyes were nothing but thundercloud bluish grey, no white could be seen. Her jeans and black hoody were coated in blood, and it wasn't human, both men could tell by the smell.

"I need a shower," she said as she glared down at the small trolls. To her they were just trolls. Odd shaped heads with a few strands of coarse dirt brown hairs. Two small beady brown eyes sat on top of a long twisted nose. They had no lips, so their mouths looked like slits just drawn on at the last minute. However, to humans, and less Opposites they looked like midgets. It depended on how powerful they were, on how human they came out.

"I bet that shit is burning," Colin said.

She nodded. "I've had some troll blood on me, but not drenched like this." She looked down at herself. "Can you two slap the handcuffs on them so we can get a move on. I really need a shower?"

They did as she said and shoved them in the back. "You gonna ride in the back with them?" Colin asked her.

The trolls started hissing and making a fuss at the thought of it. She glared at them again, and her magic started to peek once more. "Not wise," Patrick said. "Get in the back, Colin."

As he drove them to the station, he sniffed and made a face. "So where did all the troll blood come from?"

"Booby trap," she said. "They either killed some of the others or they've been saving up. By how fresh the blood is I'm thinking they killed some of the others."

"Taboo," Colin said. "You two are going to get eaten alive."

"Literally," Patrick muttered.

They pulled into the station, and dragged the trolls inside. All the other Supervisors stared at Leslie as she made her way to her office. She could feel the welts the blood had caused her sensitive skin. Troll blood stunk worse as it dried, and it made her nauseous since see had uncommonly better smell then any blood witch. She slammed the door shut, and went into the bathroom. The men could share showers, but since she was the only woman Supervisor working in the Merced County area she was privileged with her own shower in her office, since their job could get a bit dirty. She peeled her sticky cloths off as she started the water. Naked, she stepped in the steaming hot spray. It burned her skin where the blood had been. But the pain went away, and the heat felt good as she scrubbed the gunk from her hair and body.

When she was sure she had gotten all the blood off, she stepped out of the shower, drying off with a towel. She dressed in her usual jeans and black t-shirt, which either was a band t-shirt or had a goofy saying, this one did about sanity. She combed out her hair and added some frizz relaxer. Her shoes were ruined, as she looked down at them. Making a face, she pushed the bathroom door open and nearly jumped back inside seeing Fred sitting at her desk.

"Don't do that!" she said calming her racing heart. "Damn it."

He held out some salve. She had yet to master the herbalism some blood witches just know. She had been a late bloomer, and her specialties were more with knowing myth and folklore other than herbalism. Although she came into power late, she is one of the most powerful witches in California. Well there were only four blood witches in the state as far as the Supervisors knew. And the Supervisors knew everything. She and Fred worked as Supervisors. Rich, evil bastard ex boyfriend, worked for the King Wolf in the county. Then there is Carlotta, who had accepted the darkness a very long time ago. She had to have been pushing ninety years, and even though she looked it, she didn’t act old. She acted as if she was still in her thirties, especially by the horror stories her lovers had released before they died in some mysterious horrible way. The Supervisors were always monitoring the other two, but so far, they have been doing all their badness hidden from view.

The Supervisors, themselves, are the police who keep an eye on the Opposites. There is the normal human world, and then there is the Opposite Side, the creatures of myth and legend that live amongst the humans. The first Supervisors stated that the Opposites had to keep the two worlds separate, because humans scared easy, and formed a treaty years ago. It's true, when Leslie discovered what she was after staking a rogue vampire on the day she came into power, she had been pretty freaked. Who wouldn’t freak, to know things they have read about and watched in movies were real? There were creatures that really did go bump in the night, and had a hunger for real blood.

That had been three years ago, now she helped supervise the world she had once known from the creatures. Protect the innocent that was their job. Secretly, she had wished this burden had not been shoved on her, but then again, she had always known she was different. She had a sort of power that clung to her, that made others uneasy when they looked into her grey eyes. Human yet not so. She sat down as Fred started to add some of the salve, which had a pungent smell of rosemary, on her face.

"I don't know what the three of you are going to do when I leave on vacation," he said finishing up.

"We’ll be fine," she said wincing.

He looked at her with his own grey eyes. All blood witches had grey eyes. They changed with their mood, so most of the other Supervisors didn't want Fred or Leslie to wear sunglasses. Just in case. "I don't believe you."

"So I went a little wild today," she said looking at the salve on her hands. "But they drenched me in blood. You would have gone a little bit wild today too."

He shook his head trying not to smile. "You three are the youngest Supervisors, and to leave you guys unsupervised is not a good idea. You guys get the job done, but you push it. Even you Leslie, I thought you would be the head of the group, you use your magic a little too much. It makes the others uneasy. But none of the veteran officers want the responsibility of watching over you guys when I leave."

"And why shouldn’t I use my power. It was given to me, so I might as well use it to help others right?"

“Like I said you are making some of the other Supervisors uneasy. You know there is a line, and once you cross it there is no coming back, Leslie. I don’t want to see you lose yourself to that darkness. And I certainly don’t want to be the man who has to get the death order.” Fred was a nice guy, one of the nicest in the squad, but he would follow the rules if he had too. “Just be careful.”

His eyes went to the door, as Colin and Patrick came into view. “He is lecturing you again I take it,” Colin said arms crossed over his chest. He looked behind him, but Patrick didn't seem to move or say something. Werebears were cool like that. Actually, he just didn't like Fred, so he tried to stay out of the old man’s way as much as possible.

"What do you two ease droppers want?" Fred asked.

"We bring in the bad people, and keep people safe. Our cases get closed faster than most of the veterans. We will be safe, and try not to step on toes. Is that all you wanted to hear us say?"

"We have business," Patrick said finally speaking up.

Fred scratched his balding grey head. "What are you three getting yourselves into now?" He stood up, Fred, like the other three blood witches were short. They stood five foot to five-five. Leslie, again, being different, stood five-ten. She was sure there was something in her blood that might have been more then blood witch, which would account for the excellent gift of smell she had.

Leslie looked at the time. "Damn, nothing. It's the Bear council tonight. Remember? The tensions between them and the wolves are getting crazy and Nathan called a meeting. He asked for us personally."

Fred shook his head. "Will you three PROMISE me that when I'm gone you'll try not to get yourselves killed?"

"Sure," Leslie said grabbing a clean black hoody from the chair she was sitting on. "We promise."

As they left the building, Patrick looked down at Leslie's socked feet. "Where are your shoes?"

"Ruined. I need a new pair."

"I have a pair in the back," Colin said.

"Gross. Have you not seen your feet lately?" she asked.

"We have enough time to stop by the house," Patrick said as he beeped another black SUV open. Since the one they had had needed to be cleaned and possibly new interior.

After stopping by the house to get shoes, they drove over to the meeting hall. It was your typical meeting hall for weddings, birthdays and other such big events. Leslie mused over the thought that the owners had no clue that tonight they were housing a bunch of werebears. The three got out of the black SUV and just stood there, feeling the energy riding the air. Leslie could feel the nervousness and anger that spewed from the plain brownish building.

The Bears usually held their meetings at the lake, at Scout Island, but lately there have been some problems with keeping certain meetings a secret. The sneaky wolves were always sneaking around where they weren’t welcome. She thought Jonathan had actually planned that one out pretty well; send a lesser wolf that wouldn’t be noticed.

The sun had finally set leaving just a slight fire in the western sky. The moon was new, so tonight would be a very dark night, and most creepy Opposites would be out stalking the night. Leslie shivered rubbing her arms, and the goose bumps. She looked at her two close friends. They were coworkers, roommates, they shared everything. At first she wasn’t sure she would have been able to live with two men, one being a werebear, the other a half-breed. But they worked out fine, each being easy to live with. She wouldn’t trade them for anything as she looked over them, feeling actually sort of protective like a big sister.

“Well let’s get this over with,” Colin said.

“Yeah, Nathan doesn’t like us late,” Patrick said.

The energy had seemed to surround her. Her eyes had gone a dark grey almost black. The two men each stepped back when they noticed. Her skin vibrated with the energy coming from the hall. And then calm came over them, a new power, Nathan’s power. Like a fatherly hand smoothing all his bears anxiety and fears. And it touched her like a sensual hand sliding over naked skin. She shivered, and closed her eyes. She didn’t know why she seemed so in tune with the bears, or why Nathan had such an impact on her.

“Leslie?” Patrick asked.

She breathed in and out controlling herself and finally opened her eyes. “I’m okay,” she finally said.

“You sure?”

“You looked a little scary there for a moment,” Colin said.

“I bet,” she said and let out a shaky laugh. “Let’s get in there.”

Patrick took lead, since he was the bear, Leslie followed with Colin at her back. He never fit in. He was half wolf, not part bear. And so the bears hated that, but they fully didn’t understand he hated both sides. He hated his vampire and wolf side as much as they hated that he was half wolf.

All the Bears had stopped talking as the three Supervisors walked in, and the anger in the air almost choked Leslie.

“I knew this was going to happen,” Colin whispered into her ear.

“Me too,” she whispered back.

“It’s not just you two,” Patrick said as he eyed the crowed. “They’ve been angry since I decided to work for the Supervisors.”

Leslie heard them murmuring, she heard witch, wolves, and witch, repeat through the crowd. Nathan walked over, and Leslie had to avert her eyes. He stood six-two, and did construction for a living, so his shoulders, arms and back made him look like a wrestler. But not in that gross muscle bulging way, in that wide evenly proportioned way that made her heart skip beats. She had seen him with his shirt off once and nearly had a stroke. Patrick’s twin brother but only in looks. Nathan let his brownish blond hair grown out so that it touched his shoulders when he did not have it in a ponytail. She liked the slight curl it had too. She used this time to wrap her aura around her. Every person in the building had good scent, and she didn’t want them all to know that she seemed to go into heat when she got close to him.

“Sorry about the hostility, Leslie,” he said making her look at him with a puzzled look. “Richard was seen talking to Carlotta.”

Patrick and Colin both made a small noise. Leslie grimaced. “Why are they angry with me then? I don’t work for the wolves or have nothing to do with Carlotta.”

“If the wolves are recruiting blood witches they will tip the power scale, and it will be war.”

“I’m a supervisor. I’m trying to prevent any wars from breaking out.”

“But you weren’t always a supervisor,” he said his green eyes watching her. And they weren’t your normal green eyes, no; the green seemed to be a mixture of a leaf, living green, with a goldish tinge.

She was always reminded of how stupid she had been when she came to her powers. But no one was there to teach her what she was, and when Rich had showed up telling her what was going on and explain to her about the Opposite side of the normal world, she had clung to him until he had tried to use her.

“I was naïve,” she said always being the response she fell on.

“You still are,” their eyes met and his green eyes burned into hers.

“Nathan, please don’t,” Patrick said seeing Leslie’s eyes go dark. “She’s already been through enough.”

He nodded. “The burns?”

She sighed, nodding, hoping the red had faded enough, it didn’t hurt after the salve Fred had applied on her skin had sunk in and dried. “Troll blood.”

He shook his head. “Messy, I take it?”

“You have no idea,” Colin said.

“Can you ward the doors,” Nathan said looking at his watch. “We gotta get this started.”

She went to the door they had walked into and placed her hand on it saying something under her breath. The power hit the door with a small creak, and the ward stuck like glue. She had noticed the Bears had all fallen quiet, as she had worked on the side door, watching her. She only used a small amount of power, but they had felt it. It called to them, blood. Her eyes went to Nathan who had stopped on the stairs to the stage to look at her. His eyes burned with curiosity, she wondered if she looked the same way when she felt his power. She turned away before he could see her face flush.

She motioned to Patrick; he shook his head frowning, and nodded to his brother. Colin followed her to the back. They went into the back room, which was the unused kitchen. This meeting was for Bears only, and if they wanted her and Colin to take part, they would have asked.

Leslie hopped on to the counter, her feet swinging lightly, heels banging against the bottom cupboards. Colin slid himself next to her. “I don’t think I would enjoy being with a bear, especially in bed. Too macho I heard.”

“Who told you that?”

“Patrick.”

Leslie laughed. “Well duh, he prefers men silly.”

“I think the women would be the same, look at Patrick’s mom,” he said.

“Well she’s used to being a leader, since she married a leader.” Of course, she didn’t know one of her sons was gay. Leslie assumed it was something she wouldn’t understand, and be deeply ashamed of. Were’s had one goal, family, you were raised to have your own family so you could keep the bloodline going. So Patrick’s secret was only shared with a few people, which pretty much included her and Colin. Nathan didn’t even know, and Patrick liked to keep it that way.

“What about you, care for a Bear?” He eyed her as he asked. He and Patrick noticed how she acted around Nathan. But they never really said anything out loud.

She shook her head. “It’s his power. It seems to call to me, its enticing. I don’t know what it is. But it’s got something to do with my own magic. It’s different then the other’s blood magic. They have all death, but I have some kind of life. And for some reason it’s very attracted to the bear’s power. But truthfully what I think I need is just a normal human. I think some normalcy would be nice although my luck with guys sucks.”

He stared at her with his light blue eyes. “You can’t date a Regular.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “And why not?”

“How would you explain your job?”

“Night security,” she said easily.

“And all the bumps and bruises?”

“Crackheads?”

“Is that what you tell your parents?”

“Yes, to a point. I can’t just tell them I’m a special police officer. Too many questions. They are still wondering why I gave up on the job at the college, and why I insisted on moving out. Of course, they don’t believe that for one fact that I decided to move out because it seemed time. Then of course shaking up with two guys doesn’t help. My mom seems to be taking it harder. When I call, she thinks it’s the call that will have me ask to move back in.”

Their pagers went off. Before they checked the number, they knew it was a nine-one-one. Patrick was already walking in the room as Colin called headquarters. They watched him as he closed his cell phone.

“Remember that murder we had that looked sort of ritualistic last week?”

Leslie’s stomach knotted thinking of the scene. “That was bad.”

“Well it looks like we have another. Simms and his team noticed it looked like ours, and so we get the privilege of working it.”

“Joy, the meeting is boring as hell, so I have no problem leaving,” Patrick said as they headed for the back door.

“Did he just say joy?” Colin asked.

“Is Nathan going to be mad?” she said.

“Na, business is business. He is doing what he can to save the family his way being leader, and I’m doing the best I can do for the family by being a Supervisor. They will get over it one day, anyway what is wrong with me saying joy?”

“It’s something so unmanly and more something Leslie would say.”

She just shrugged as Patrick beeped open the locks, and they all got in. “I’m very manly,” Patrick said.

“Colin, stop or he’s going to be pouting all night,” Leslie said with a smile.