Chapter Text
Brrr brrr
A door bell sounded in a small apartment in Palmetto. The man living there froze on the couch in front of the TV for a short second.
David Wymack trusted only a handful of people and not a single one of them ever used the bell.
He reached for a gun.
With soundless steps he stalked towards the door, pistol pointed at the entrance. The voices from the TV were just a white noise in this weird silence of anticipation. Wymack slowly put his ear to the door but he heard nothing. Not losing concentration for even a second, he looked through the peephole.
What he saw on the other side made him open the door without care and with way too much force.
He glared at the man standing on the other side.
"Which part of 'I'm retiring, don't ever contact me' you guys don't understand?"
"Hello to you too, David," said the visitor. "You know that I wouldn't be here if the situation wasn't rough. We need your help."
The man's tone lacked the usual fake impassiveness and Wymack knew right away that whatever they needed him for was undoubtedly serious. He also knew he was going to help them, no matter what it was, even if he had swore that he would never take part in any of that ever again. Fuck his good heart.
David regarded his visitor for a moment then simply opened the door wider and started walking towards the living room, knowing his guest would follow. He reached the cabinet in which he had his alcohol stashed and took out a bottle of whiskey.
He put two glasses on the table.
"Be my guest," he said and proceeded to pour himself a drink, filling the glass with much more whiskey than he probably should.
Fuck that. He needed this if he really was going to get mixed in some freaky shit again. He deserved it.
He took a large sip.
"Now, tell me Browning. Why would the FBI need help from a retired officer?" he said and then not letting his guest answer, he asked "Does this have anything to do with the Nest?"
Wymack watched as the man sitting across him stiffened slightly at the mention of the Nest.
Browning adjusted on the chair and loosened his tie but remained otherwise collected.
"Yes, you're right. It's about the Nest or, more precisely, about the Ravens". The man reached for the bag he arrived with and took out a bunch of files. "You have probably heard the news"
Wymack tsked. Of course he had heard. The media had been obsessed with the news that The Nest, a facility that had been opened during a human-vampire war and had been said to rehabilitate newly turned vampires, had been shut down after it had been revealed it was all a lie - it had never intended to help young vamps at all. Behind that facade, what really had been happening at the Nest during its 4 years of operating had been inhumane testing and experimentation on kidnapped vampires. There had been abuse, torture and pain. Moriyamas, who had been behind it all and had been revealed to be a part of the Japanese mafia. Even before the war, they had been secretly funding their 'research' - so the Nest had been unofficially functioning for years, hurting and destroying the lives of many people.
"I might have heard some of them," Wymack replied with as much sarcasm as he could muster. Browning rolled his eyes at the other man's mockery. He clearly wasn't very amused by David's antics.
"Well, then you are probably also aware of the questions that arose regarding the future of the Ravens" the agent said. He eyed the whiskey bottle and his fingers twitched as if to grab it but didn't cave. "Some are wondering what's going to happen to a group of broken, mentally scarred vampires, who were living in captivity, completely isolated from the outside world, tortured and experimented on for years."
Wymack took another big sip. The glass was heading towards being empty way too soon.
"Most Ravens are deeply traumatized and not ready, at least in near future, to live among humans without supervision" the agent continued. "We are also afraid that the remaining members of the Moriyama empire that we haven't managed to capture might want to get rid of witnesses of their crimes. So we decided to create a special type of witness protection program that would allow Ravens to heal but will also ensure their safety."
"But what all of that has to do with me?" Wymack asked even though he already knew the answer.
"One of the Ravens is going to stay with you" the other man said as he slided a manilla folder towards Wymack. He glanced at the file and read the name printed on the top.
Neil Josten.