Chapter 18 The Trauma of Being a Raver

Nathan Wagner – Trauma

Jake's POV...

I inhaled through my nose as her body pressed against mine. I could feel her emotions shifting and sliding against each other like the light off a suncatcher, and, as always that dark thorn of fear planted by Gerard to grow between us. She fought it as I held her. I didn't  kiss her; I never knew how much self-control I possessed until I met my mate. She leaned back slightly, dropping to her heels, and pressing her forehead against my neck.

"Shalom, at the risk of you walking away, what are you doing?" I asked into her hair, ignoring that everyone was staring at us. She stood still except for her slightly trembling fingers resting on the back of my neck while her other arm clutched me tightly around my torso.

"I went to see Aliza Abbott."

"And?" I asked because I didn't smell blood on her or that she had bathed since we fled the research site. I wondered what my brave mate spoke to the most evil woman in the world about.

"She knows the weapon is organic, but not what it is made of or where the trees are grown," Shalom murmured. Her breath on my skin felt warm like sunlight after winter. "She's just Gerard's pawn. A broken, selfish girl who hates us because her mother loved someone besides her horrid father." She looked up at me and I was mesmerized by the hazel brown of her eyes. Her scent changed, mixed with her hope and fear, the scent of pity and disgust. Shalom's lips pressed together, and I almost kissed her, then she said, "I think it's time we had a talk with the President and the FBI... And the Vampires too. She isn't going to stop until we are all dead. She's insane."

"I've been talking to the Vice President and Lords of the Vampires," I revealed.

Galen cleared his throat and, for a moment, my wolf wanted to tear it out as she stepped away from me. The redeemed Fae smirked at me and I could almost hear him chastising me for being selfish as he said, "Forgive the interruption, Monarch, but we still don't know where the Samhain Elms are grown or where the Dust of Rage is processed."

"I might be able to answer that," Chelsey stood between Ryan and Corey's wolves, holding Justice. "I found an address for a distillery in New Orleans. It was owned by a coven that disappeared and is now owned under a holding company founded in her mother's maiden name. The google earth images show tanker trucks and smoke or steam from the place like it is making something, but they aren't open according to the internet."

"Tanker trucks?" I revealed, "Jon found a burned tanker truck at the Ground Zero site. Bethany said it had Louisiana toll road tags but no plates. We need to make certain those trucks don't leave. They could drive the Elm syrup anywhere in the country in a few days and park it until a blizzard."

Shalom paled then smelled angry "Aliza knows we are onto the H.P.M., she is going to try to hide the evidence like she did last night."

"What about the Rosesea Princess?" Galen interrupted. He looked concerned as he added, "We need to get her away from Gerard as soon as possible and make certain he cannot get to Justice."

"I'll call the Vice President, we need to go straight to New Orleans. If those trucks leave the distillery, we may lose them," I announced.

"I'll go with you, me and the Ravers, I can keep them from going feral if they decide to dump that stuff. And if any Nons in the area are exposed, they know how to restrain them," Nicolea insisted. "The Elm Chemical caused Limbic System damage. I am still not certain if it can be reversed, but it can be managed, and now we know that repeated exposure doesn't work to make them homicidal after the initial exposure wears off. Each duration of effect is shorter and shorter." She smiled in a beautifully terrifying way. "Liam was a fool. By repeatedly exposing our Ravers, he practically made them immune to future exposures."

"What about Jake and I?" Will demanded.

"You have your packmates to keep you grounded. I think you will be fine if you are re-exposed." Nic nodded, sounding confident.

I put my elbow in one hand and tapped the other fist against my chin as I thought. "We need to go. I'll get in contact with the leaders of the species."

"What about the Ravers?" Chelsey asked, "Only three have their wolves. They can't be out in public."

I looked around at them. These were my packmates, my friends, and the protectors of my mate and child, I wouldn't leave them behind. "I need to make some calls but maybe it is time the world saw them as more than the monsters of the Revelation Night."

VvvvvV

Vice President Marshland was very interested in the information and agree to meet me at the Monarchy offices, but I was surprised when he and the head of the Secret Service and National Security Agency's top general arrived on the military plane I borrowed. The Monarchy Military did not have the larger transport planes and the Ravers were too large to fit in Malcolm's private jets. Marshland looked surprised while General Padget just shrugged. The three-meter tall, mutated werewolf warforms looked like something straight out of a horror movie and yet bizarrely docile as they bordered the C-130 and sat. The human and nonhuman Rangers and Agents of the government twitched trying not to show their fear of the Ravers, but we could all smell it.

I tried not to laugh after Matthias shifted from his beast to his human to look through the printouts Shalom made with Chelsey with all the seriousness of a college professor while Ryan laid at her feet in his wolf. Will handed out snacks which Corey wandered around trying to trade his peanut nougat bar for one with almonds. One of the Rangers seemed to realize his dilemma and offered the trade. Corey crouched in front of her and pointed his long, index claw at her patches. She explained about her service and her current unit.

"Sorry, he's curious," I explained. "He went to law enforcement school and was going to join the Army like I did."

Their commanding colonel asked, curiously, "When was that?"

Jake chuckled as Vice President Marshland revealed, "World War Two."

The Secret Service Agent Ogdet in charge of his detail grinned. "Monarch Vanguard used to be Alpha Commander Vanguard. He was a decorated veteran in both human and werewolf military. Some of the most amazing missions were pulled off by Nonhuman special forces and no one ever knew."

Padget nodded, revealing, "We are no different in our motivations to protect our country and our families." He waved his hand toward Matthias, Shalom, and Chelsey. "So we all saw the explosion on the news, what did Professor Wolf and the late Dr. Phillips' wife find." He never was one to delay getting the bad news. My wolf was unhappy that he knew who Shalom was but it couldn't be helped. Aliza Abbott's shills had outed her identity and my shame to the whole world.

"Mrs. Phillips was working with a group of surviving Ravers near Woodland Park, Colorado after the assassination attempt on my brother. Their location was compromised by a group of human mercenaries belonging to the Pure Human Movement terrorists. Matthias and Mrs. Phillips both escaped, but the ones, who are now trapped as their warforms again, were captured and experimented on." I pointed at Ryan's wolf. "He's seventeen and those who captured him, repeatedly exposed him to the Project Elm Street chemical weapon."

Corey growled and bared his teeth. He gestured toward Chelsey and Ryan then held up his hand in several gestures that I understood without the pack link.

"Corey says the tried to make Ryan attack his mate by exposing them together for three days."

The woman who had traded with Corey stared between them then said, "But she isn't a... uh... like Corey."

"The weapon does not appear to affect females as it does males." Matthias answered as he walked back, now dressed in pants and a shirt but still barefooted. "Monarch, Vice President, General, please come, Mrs. Phillips and Chelsey found something else."

I glanced at Corey who gestured for a notebook and pen. I wondered what he was writing as I went to where Shalom sat with Justice in his baby sling. Over the sound of the engines I couldn't hear the soldiers and agents crowded around Corey as he wrote, but from their expressions and outraged scents, I guessed he was either telling them about the boy and his father who were changed into Ravers or the experiments. Carl joined him and the two Ravers took turns with the notebook. I knew how hard it was to communicate in that form and was grateful they were showing these humans that they were more than mindless beasts or killing machines.

Shalom was talking animatedly to Marshland and Padget. "We think this location is where they are distilling the sap and pollen into something that can be sprayed from planes. The substance Dr. Lance found in the tanker at Erie Airport had thickened to the consistency of corn syrup due to natural evaporation but the stuff at the Cades Depot site was thinner so it must be from a newer batch."

General Padget considered the photo and texted the address to someone. "I can have surveillance on the location in less than an hour."

"What about the necessary warrants?" Marshland asked. "Every aspect of this has to be absolutely within the law or they will get the evidence dismissed. Hell, they incinerated their entire facility in Cades Depot to destroy evidence of kidnaping and illegal experimentation on two minors and eight adults."

"Nine adults, Donavon died with Alpha Wems so we could escape," Chelsey corrected.

Padget refuted Marshland, "These people are domestic terrorists. The allowances for surveillance are much broader." As they argued, I wondered how long it would take. I felt Shalom roll her eyes and I glanced at her. Her head was bent with her hair shielding her face. Her growing agitation felt like an iron poker getting hotter in a forge. Her patience lasted about fifteen minutes before she was ready to bite them.

"Gentlemen, please. Our only advantage right now is that the Dark Fae working with the H.P.M. have kept them ignorant of the weapon's true nature," I tried to refocus them away from the legal aspects toward the threat and risk assessment.

"How do you know that?" Padget demanded.

"The ancient Light Fae on my team suspected what it was since the beginning; the younger ones and Dr. Lance proved it. I... I may have confronted one of their leaders. She didn't know what I was talking about when I asked her where the trees where," Shalom answered loudly over the engine noise. Suddenly, everyone within the hold was looking and listening to her. "But she is very smart and she will figure it out quickly. She already suspected it was organic."

"How did you know that without a polygraph or something?" One of the agents asked.

"Werewolves can smell lies," Shalom revealed, "They smell alkali."

"Like bleach or ammonia?" The woman Ranger asked.

"No, more like mineral seltzer or tonic water," Shalom answered with a shrug.

"And who was this person?" Padget demanded as Ogdet from the Secret Service moved closer.

Marshland scowled as he revealed, "Aliza Abbott."

The general laughed as did a few of the human agents and soldiers but when none of our group did, they all fell silent. For a few moments, there was only the sound of the engines.

Shalom swallowed and spoke to all of them. "My husband was a spy inside that group. He was trying to mitigate the damage they were doing. He told me that night that they tested something without his knowledge, but it wasn't what he thought it was. He didn't know about the Samhain Elm or the Dust of Rage, as the Fae call it. I have proof that Abbott Pharmaceuticals has been experimenting on Nonhumans and Nonhuman genome-carrying humans for decades."

"But Aliza Abbott?" One of the agents demanded in disbelief. "She's such a bimbo."

"Aliza isn't a clueless party girl," Chelsey snapped. "She is the most evil woman in the world. She uses her clueless playgirl act and pretty face, so no one realizes how smart she is. She's working with the Dark Fae. A blessed Demonus Fae was the one who held us and experimented on us. The sick fuker wanted my mate to rape and eat me!" Chelsey panted; her teeth began to sharpen as her nails grew into claws.

"She's shifting!" Shalom warned then encouraged, "Chelsey, breathe! Don't rage."

The Ravers rushed to form a wall between her and the humans as Ryan grew from his wolf to his human. He shook with the effort to control it. He clutched her face in his trembling hands, begging, "Babe, resist. Don't let him win."

Corey whined and wrapped his arms around her from behind. Chelsey clung to Ryan and began to sob. "I don't want to be a Raver... Why did he do this to me? To us?"

"There's n-no reason, B-babe. He w-was evil," Ryan stammered then he shifted back into his Raver because he couldn't hold his skin any longer.

Picking her up, Ryan carried her back to the rearmost part of the plane with Corey and two others following. Shalom wiped away a tear as she watched them, but I had to breathe deeply to push the red tinting my vision away.

"What did they do to her?" Marshland demanded because his granddaughter was Chelsey's age.

"They tried to turn her into a Raver," Matthias answered. "We don't know why it didn't work but we are glad it didn't. All of the Ravers here had recovered enough to return to human and wolf form before they were kidnapped and taken to Cades Depot. Now they are trapped as their beasts again. Corey and Ryan can get back to their wolves, but Ryan is the only one who can still get to his human form and only for a few minutes."

"But you... you have your human body back," Padget pointed out.

"I wasn't taken to Cades Depot. After the Revelation Night, I was a Raver for ten months," Matthias revealed then he bowed his head, "I killed my wife and son. I remember attacking my father after he killed my mother, then I attacked my neighbors. I couldn't stop myself. I remember every moment. Ryan got lucky. His mother's last act was to lock him in the safe room in their basement before she died. He doesn't remember anything from that night except being locked in." He reached up and rubbed his forehead then looked around. "Right before they were kidnapped, a father and son showed up. The H.P.M. had just turned them into Ravers, they still smelled like the bio-chemical weapon. The boy was barely thirteen. He was still a child and wouldn't have survived without medical assistance. It wasn't an accidental exposure to residue. Someone made him into a Raver... Vice President Marshland, you don't know how traumatic it was to all of us to become Ravers. How traumatic it still is... I know you have to follow the law but these people and the Dark Fae working with them do not care who they hurt or how many innocent people are killed or displaced, as long as all Nonhumans and Nonhuman-genome carrying humans die with them."

Shalom nodded. "I know you don't believe us, but I have read all of Aliza Abbott's notes. She is part of the 14% of pure humans left in the global population. She knows this and has been indoctrinated since she was a child to hate anyone who isn't a pure human."

"She is working with a Demonus Fae Clan leader. He wants my son so he can control the werewolves of this continent." I revealed, "They have blessed Fae and shills of every species in positions of power or close to them. After we land, I have to arrest my brother's assistant and lover, she is a Blessed Demonus Fae and has been spying for the enemy for two decades."

"Is that why Mrs. Phillips took your son and went into hiding rather than come out as your mate and the new Queen of the Werewolf Monarchy?" Padget asked.

"Yes. Jake sent me into hiding to protect us." Shalom answered for us. "I won't let them get my son and I won't let them turn him into a murderer like they did Jake. He didn't mean to attack my family, he didn't..." She stopped and swallowed before she finished. I could feel her internal war even though her voice was steady. "He didn't mean to hurt me that night and he understands why I don't want to be mates until this is settled. He knows the only things that matter to me are keeping my son safe and stopping the next attack. I won't let anyone else die like my family and neighbors did."

"Gentlemen, we are twenty minutes from approach. Please strap in." The pilot's voice interrupted.

Shalom picked up the backpack style diaperbag with her red cloak inside. "Should I put this on?"

I shook my head. "No. Let them see us together with the Ravers as we get off the plane. It will send a message more than any press briefing."

"I thought your brother was the politician," Marshland taunted good naturedly as he sat next to Shalom in the seat I had planned to sit in.

Instead of growling at him I grinned, showing all my teeth. "A media war is still a war, Mr. Vice President, and I was raised to be a general." Then I sat behind her.

General Padget sat beside me and held out his phone, "I think we have a bigger problem than the media. I have two NCIS agents from New Orleans watching the distillery. Look who they snapped a picture of going into the office."

My jaw clenched so it wouldn't drop open. Retired Joint Chiefs General Jim Forrester was talking two familiar looking men. Suddenly, my wolf reminded me of something I saw on the news when I was trying not to go after Shalom, and I remembered where I had seen the men with Forrester before. They were popular storm chaser pilots from a reality television series who had been fired for making racist then anti-Nons statements. I opened the weather app on my phone and pulled up the hurricane forecast center. My throat suddenly went dry as I showed him.

"I know when and where the next attack is going to be...We need to raid that facility before Hurricane Tonya gets any closer to shore."

He swore quietly and I couldn't agree more. If the Human Purity Movement dropped the liquid Dust of Rage concentrate into that storm, everything east and north from the Mississippi Delta up the river to St. Louis and across the eastern states would be affected. Tens of millions of people would be under that storm in less than a week.