Tad was a bit nervous when he and Amy exited the high school at the end of the day. Amy had already assured him that whatever even he had overheard a couple of others talking about when he left his last class was unrelated to what had happened in Seattle, and some of what she said made sense. Though, that didn't make someone doing a drive by shooting in Moon Lake less dangerous and there was a lot that Tad and Amy didn't know. In fact that not knowing had fueled Tad's original conclusion that Lionel Ulysses' murderer had done the deed as part of either some scheme to punish "bad weres" or by some normal who learned weres existed and was out to hunt them.
"Things seem fairly quiet," Tad stated as they walked along the sidewalk in front of the high school building.
"Which would be a good thing," Amy answered, "If what you said you overheard is true, that'd mean that my brothers got to hear a lot sirens go by the middle school today in relation to this shooting... and given everything that the Skulk is on edge over concerning the Harper/Jenkins wedding, the fewer signs of trouble we have the better."
"Agreed," Tad nodded, "Though... I can't help but wonder about what was the cause of the shooting and thus the chase that went past the middle school."
Amy turned her head and looked to Tad with a raised eyebrow. She found him looking calm but serious, which only perplexed Amy more as they walked along. That drove her to try and figure out the answer to the obvious question that that raised.
"You're dead serious on this?" Amy asked, "Aren't you? What's got you so interested?"
"Some of it is all the close connections to all these events," Tad said slowly, "Lionel Ulysses wanted my mom and pretty much killed my dad because my mom didn't want to be with Ulysses. Ulysses then gets in a shootout with the police and FBI in Seattle and is wounded and transforms out of reflex, pretty much revealing his tail and before any of that can be truly resolved to protect the secret that weres are real... some guy then kills Ulysses in a Seattle hospital. It's like all these events seem to relate to me in some way."
"But you aren't personally responsible in anyway," Amy pointed out, "really, you aren't."
Tad nodded as they walked along, "I know... still doesn't mean I can't want to make things right... Even if the career that I'd like would be in designing computer and video games."
Amy responded with a smile and reached around and put an arm over Tad's shoulder, holding the eighteen year old male to her. Eventually he returned the smile.
"That's because you're a nice and caring guy," Amy said with a smile, "maybe still a bit unused to all the specific parts of were culture here in Moon Lake, but you are getting better with that and that doesn't affect who you are."
"Thanks," Tad answered, "I have only you to thank for that."
Amy only smiled as they continued on, though they soon regretted not looking where they were going. Focused on each other, they walked straight into another man who was walking up an intersecting street. The impact didn't hurt, but it did stop everyone and forced them to stagger back slightly. Tad was about to apologize when the man they walked into practically blew up at them both.
"Well you pay attention to where you're going!" the man roared with a level of anger that was surprising given the situation, "You could have gotten hurt if I was a car."
"Look, sir, I'm sorry we bumped into you," Tad spoke as he moved to straighten Amy back up, "We were talking to each other and weren't exactly paying attention."
"I know!" the man growled, "so many of you people aren't paying attention! To anything! I spend a lot of time trying to make things better and all I get is being told to follow the law and do this and do that... when you should be paying me the respect of a great hero or a king or at least someone important. Instead... it's I'm sorry I wasn't paying attention!"
That didn't sit right with Tad, as whatever was irritating this man, he was apparently taking it out on him and Amy when there was no reason to, or at least none that he could think of. The man was powerfully built though looking a bit older, older than twenty but younger than forty, Tad couldn't narrow it down further than that, and based by his scent he was a were of some kind, likely reptilian in nature, but Tad couldn't pin down the specifics.
"Look, sir, " Tad said slowly, "my girlfriend and I don't know you. I'm sorry we bumped into you, but you can't honestly expect people who don't know you to treat you like some sort of "king." That's not the way the world works, and in America, there are NO royal titles."
"Well you should!" the man growled, his fists clinched and his arms shook, as if he were holding back from outright starting a fight with Tad, "I am Dymixious! I am the one that's kept all weres and this town safe from exposure! If it weren't for me, everyone would know Ulysses was a rat and would have come here to burn it all! Everyone should know that and thank me for everything that I've done!"
With that the man stalked away, leaving Tad and Amy to stare blankly after him, though not necessarily in a way that Dymixious would have wanted.
"Did he just..." Amy whispered to Tad.
"Yes," Tad answered, "Meaning he either is the one who killed Lionel Ulysses and thinks that averted weres being discovered or he's somehow gotten the Seattle police, the FBI, and the media to buy the fake tail story."
"And which do you think is true?" Amy asked as they slowly resumed their walk toward Tad's home, though both periodically looked over their shoulder to see if Dymixious had turned around. So far he hadn't and was farther away, though their voices didn't rise above a whisper.
"The former," Tad answered, "I didn't see that man on any of the news broadcasts on the reports on Ulysses's capture or death and he didn't really carry himself with the sort of tact and calm temperament that would create an image as a person who could convince various media sources to censure themselves to a specific opinion."
Amy nodded, "with that last part I'd agree. He lost it far too easily for a simple accident."
They walked along quietly before Amy asked, "So what now?"
"Probably best to let the police know, I think," Tad answered, "though I really don't know... the guy might actually fight if arrested for Ulysses murder. Which could make things worse..."