APEX - Season 2

Ch. 1: The Attack on Vicki Anatoli

Rhys

The last thing I wanted to do was to watch Vicki's twisted story detailing her conversion to the anti-werewolf dark side, but that's exactly what I found myself doing at home after a fitful day's sleep that had me tossing and turning and sweating into my sheets.

Groaning, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, planting my feet onto the floor. "Don't do this to yourself, Rhys," I said as I reached for my phone and did exactly what I'd just told myself not to.

A moment later, Vicki's cold eyes stared at me from my screen. I turned the volume all the way up and listened to the whole video, hoping to catch a useful detail I'd missed during the first listen, when Dev, Calla, her sister Arla, and I had all been huddled around Dev's phone, Tonya's dead body lying not even fifty feet away.

Now, alone at home, maybe I'd find there was something else useful to glean from this. I studied Vicki's face for signs that she was lying or speaking out of duress. But the only emotion emanating from Calla's best friend was hatred.

"I hope you'll understand why we must rid our city of every single werewolf, once and for all," she said, and then she launched into her account of what had happened the night she went missing.

"Like many of you, before the full moon two months ago, I was a foolish, naive person who believed we could live peacefully with werewolves. I believed this so much, in fact that I let one become a close friend." Calla had flinched when she'd heard these words. Hearing them again made me bristle, especially knowing the pain Calla had experienced out of fear for Vicki's well-being.

"Not only that," Vicki continued, "but I had a romantic notion that perhaps a strong, sexy shifter man might look my way. It sickens me now to know I thought like that, that I would want and even seek out a relationship with one of them, but as shameful as it might be, I'm here to tell you the truth. And the truth is, I went to Apex Headquarters just before moonrise because a werewolf asked me to. We were to meet briefly, decide if we had chemistry, and if so, arrange for a future get-together. That was the plan, but of course, the night played out much differently.

"If you're saying to yourself, 'she's a fool for going into the den of the beast just before the hour of their transportation, believe me, that's not anything I haven't told myself a thousand times over since that day. But I did do it. I followed the instructions he gave to me via text message. It led me into the lobby and to a bank of elevators. I've been told that there's video surveillance to confirm this, but once I entered the elevator, I essentially disappeared from the world. No more videos, no more communication. I expected that eventually, my disappearance would lead to an investigation and public appeal for information on my location and wellbeing. I bet you didn't even know before I stood up at this podium that I'd even been missing. Am I right?"

She paused long enough for a murmur of assent to issue from those watching her. "That's what I thought. Not even so much as a single flier. You must wonder why that is. I know I do." She shook her head and glanced downwards, then wiped a tear from her eye. I wanted to believe Vicki was acting, getting the people's sympathy on her side, but if so, she should switch careers and head to Hollywood, considering how convincing she was.

"I have made myself sick thinking about this. I've speculated as to why I was so utterly forgotten, even by the person who should have cared most and would have been in the best position to help me." Again, this read as a jab at Calla, who Vicki discredited without even hearing what her supposed best friend had done on her behalf.

"I'm going to put that aside for the time being. For now, those questions you've been forming in your head as to what happened to me once I entered the elevator must be answered." She paused, her gaze running over the audience before landing on the camera directly in front of her. I swallowed, feeling as though she had somehow managed to magically find me through time and space, to steady her eyes upon me in admonishment for some crime she imagined I'd committed.