The ride to my apartment was smooth and quiet. Despite the violence from earlier, most of the city was still in sleep at this early hour. According to the clock in my car, it was just a hair past two in the morning.
It was right as I was looking at the time change that my hands started to shake. I gripped the steering wheel tight in my hands, focusing my eyes back to the street I was driving down. I was no stranger to panic attacks, having had more than my share in my life, but the one that was hitting me now was another beast entirely. All I could do is focus on breathing, the feel of the steering wheel in my hands, and try not to crash the car.
By the time I was pulling into the parking lot behind my dilapidated building, it had finally passed. Once or twice I had considered waking up Max to talk me through it. It had only taken a look at him snoring away in the seat next to me to discard that option. I also decided that, rather than call Henry, I would knock on his door once everyone else was situated in my place. After all, better Max get his sleep in now since I might need his help later tonight and tomorrow, what with our elf prisoner and everything.
Turning off the car, I looked behind my seat to see that Franz had woken up. It took me a second, but I realized the grimace on his face was not due to the pain he was in. He pointed at his brother, exaggeratedly miming snoring.
I snorted at his expression. Then gestured for him to lean forward, and made a motion for him to smack the back of his brothers head. Not wanting to be in the line of fire if Max woke up swinging, I got out of the car. Right as I closed the door, Franz struck.
I smiled at Max's swearing about being woken so rudely. That would teach him to snore the entire drive here.
Opening up his own door, Max got out. Shooting me a glare, he rubbed the side of his face where a red welt was starting to rise. He knew I had been the one to instigate that, so I knew he'd get me back later. Max opened the door for his brother, grabbed Franz by his arms, and helped him out. Franz, while conscious and still possessing a sense of humor, was clearly weak from pain and blood loss. At least for the moment the bleeding had stopped.
"Go on in, I'll be right behind you."
"Don't take too long," Max said, helping Franz towards the back door to my apartment building. "If you aren't up there in ten minutes, I am going to come looking for you. I'm didn't make it this far only to lose you too."
"If I am not there in ten minutes, it is because I am helping the doctor bring his things to my place to take care of you both."
"What about…you know." He jerked a thumb towards the trunk of my car.
"I'm just going to tie them up for now," I said moving to the trunk, "I'll get them once Henry is awake and taking care of you both."
Grunting agreement, the brothers hobbled along towards the building. Since they had been to my place before, they knew where they were going, as well as the location of the key I hid under my welcome mat. Not exactly the smartest thing to do on this side of the city, but once the fact I was the newest member of the Night Wolves made its way around the apartment complex, no one was crazy enough to take advantage of my lack of security.
Of course, with what happened to Wilhelm and a good chunk of my gang's membership tonight, I'd be taking that key inside with me for now on.
Taking a moment to gather my wits, I pulled out the hunting knife I hadn't had a chance to use in the fight against the elves. Reaching down with my free hand, I gently grasped the handle of the trunk, then jerked it open. Knife raised, ready to strike, I saw something in the trunk I absolutely did not expect.
The elf was a woman.
Though I had driven as gently as I could on the way to my place, more for the sake of the brothers than the elf I will admit, apparently the ride had been bumpy enough that the tightly fastened hood had come loose from around her face. I'd also admit it was a pretty face. It was angular and framed by white shoulder-length hair, with ears delicately emerging from either side of her head. Two gold rings pierced the upper parts of each ear. I gently touched her neck, feeling for a pulse. It was there, slow and steady in sleep.
Realizing I was staring at an elven woman, who had both tried to kill me earlier that same night and who I had not hesitated in knocking out to then kidnap, I forced myself to stop gawking and get to what I needed to do. Specifically, tie her hands and feet together so she wouldn't be able to get out of the car before I got back.
Taking my hand off the side of her neck, I fished around in the other side of the trunk for a minute before finally finding what I needed. Pulling out a few spare shirts, I began ripping strips to turn into ties to secure her with. Though she did stir once when I rolled her over, I was able to secure her quickly. Done with what I needed to do, I closed the trunk again. After locking the car up, I made my way inside.
Much like the outside, the inside of the apartment building had seen better days. The paint was faded and chipped, and there were water-stains down many of the walls that I walked past on my way to the inner stairwell. I don't even know how many decades ago it had been built.
But it was home.
Like much of the rest of the territory that the Night Wolves had taken over as their own, the majority of people who lived here were working class people with German or European roots. That being said, people from other demographics had been gradually moving in over the past decade or so. Especially as the older generation started passing on. Most simply struggled in their daily grind to survive. Which had grown harder as the economy slowed down. Or at least that is what everyone assumed.
After the violence of tonight, I was not so sure anymore.
Lost in my thoughts, I almost passed by Henry's door, so used to I was walking the extra few dozen to my own. Though likely in bed for some time now, I knew he was a light sleeper. I knocked on his door. Just like I thought, it only took a few minutes before he was unlatching the locks and pulling it open. A shorter man, he was rubbing his wrinkled face before setting his glasses on his nose to look up at me.
"Jakob? What are you doing at my door so late?" his eyes started to focus, where they visibly widened upon catching sight of the blood and soot on me. "Good lord, what the hell happened to you?!"
"Peace meeting went wrong. Wilhelm and a good number of other Night Wolves are dead," I said, leading with the devastating news. Before Henry could express his shock, I continued, "But I can tell you more about that later. For now, I need you to get any medical supplies you have and go to my apartment to stitch up Max and Franz. Can you do that?"
"Y-yes, of course. Of course." Henry darted back into his apartment, moving quickly for his old age. He called back over his shoulder, "I won't be but a minute!"
"Door is unlocked," I called after him, "I have to grab something from my car, then I'll be up and you can look at me too."
When all I got was some muffled response from deep within Henry's apartment, I decided I wasn't needed by the doctor for the moment. Henry had always been dependable in the past, and I well knew that he had a range of medical supplies on hand. Some from his time practicing, though more was now from the medical sales he occasionally engaged in for some companies owned by friends. When I had asked him about it, and why if he had so much money he lived in a apartment building like this, he had said that he had lived in this area his entire life and he would be damned before he left it now. I thought there might have been a bit more to it than that, but I respected him too much to pry into it. His business could stay his business as far as I was concerned. Henry had always felt the same in regards to me and mine.
Trusting that the doctor knew his business, and that he wouldn't get lost on the short walk to my apartment to take care of the brothers, I made my way back down to the lobby. It was a bit slower going making my way back down to my car. Less because the steps and more from how tired I was getting. The long day leading up to the meeting, then the violent fighting, followed by a decent drive all added up to a significant amount of stress and exhaustion. But I pushed through. Soon as I got my last passenger up into my apartment, and secured her, I'd be able to sleep for a bit. Maybe a day or two. Hopefully.
Not completely losing my wits, I looked around the parking lot as I walked to my car. Much like I expected, there was still no one out and about. Even the earliest risers were two hours away from starting their day.
Coming back to the trunk of my car, I fumbled with my keys a few times. Finally, I got them into the lock. Turning them, I lifted it open. In the process of doing so, I almost cursed that I hadn't taken my knife back out. I half expected to be attacked before I even got it open. Luckily I wasn't.
The elven woman was still asleep in the position I had left her tied up in. As I moved to pick her up, I noticed her hands had gotten a tad bit more pale. Tied her too tight. I'd loosen them a bit once I got her into my apartment and secured to a chair. Grunting, I tried to lift her body to rest it on my shoulders. I was just too tired, so I settled for another princess carry.
Using my elbow, I closed the trunk again, not bothering to lock it this time. Nothing of value was in my trunk. Hell, nothing of real value was in my entire car. At this point I was just ready to be done for the night. Right foot. Left foot. I just focused on that as I carried her inside.
The last thing I heard before getting back into the apartment building was the distant sound of sirens. Hopefully the fire department put out the fire soon. Actually, maybe a bit more of a delay would be nice. Not sure it would be good if they found the dead elves before they were ash. The door gently closed behind me, sealing out the night.
When I finally made it to my apartment, the first thing I saw was Max eating a sandwich at my kitchen table while Henry stitched up the cut in his side. The wince that Max gave as I came into the apartment was definitely because Henry had poked him with the needle in shock upon seeing the elf captive. I know Max would never be embarrassed about taking my food. He had done that plenty in the past.
"What is she?!" Henry asked loudly, pausing in his work as I carried the elf in to my apartment.
"One of the elves that attacked us tonight," I shook my head before Henry could ask any more questions, "I'll fill you in more later. More importantly, how is Franz?"
"Good, because I have a damn lot of questions" Henry responded as he started stitching up Max's wound again, "He lost quite a bit of blood, but I have him stable for now. Lucky for him I had some IV bags on hand. He's sleeping in your bed right now, but I'll check him in a bit. He should be fine until we can get him to a proper hospital tomorrow."
"Are you sure he needs a hospital?" Max asked.
"Yes, I do," Henry said, finishing up his stitches, "if you're worried about the questions, just say it was a construction accident. It certainly looks like it was a saw blade that pierced him."
"Thanks, Doctor, we appreciate it." I moved to go deposit the elf in my living room chair.
I characterized the living room, like the rest of my apartment, as being new-age poor. You know, not much in decor and what I did have was secondhand, The furniture was scuffed and dinged up, though my couch was pretty comfortable if you didn't mind the slight indents from where previous owners had sat thousands of times before. Also, while I didn't have a television, I did enjoy the small shelf of books and novels I'd set up in the corner whenever I had a little downtime. When you came into my place, everything carried with it just the slightest feeling that what I already had was the best I could likely ever hope for.
"Don't think I've forgotten about you, Jakob. I'll be with you in a minute," Henry called after me, "and I expect some answers."
I wanted answers too, but I knew I wouldn't be getting any until the elven woman woke up. Maybe not even then. I could always try to beat the answers out of her, but I knew I would never be able to do that. Much like Wilhelm, I didn't believe in hurting women. That even applied to captured elven women that previously tried to kill me. Shaking my head again at the strange situation I found myself in, I set her in the chair. Leaning down, I looked at how I could tie her ankles to the chair legs. That was my second mistake.
My first was failing to check if she had woken up.