"So this is Moon Lake," the junior partner in the two Luna Brotherhood members commented as the senior partner pulled into small town.
With the officer on the Seattle PD that they had originally thought to be a corrupt cop being deep undercover, the two had written the fact that the police had gotten Dymixious's name as a coincidence. That however, was not the biggest problem that they had. The problem was the explosion of attention on things that could lead to weres being exposed to the world. First Lionel Ulysses's arrest and capture and his reflexive transforming after being shot during the arrest and then there was the murder of Lionel Ulysses before he could answer any questions that would clear up the surprises from the arrest. Both Luna Brotherhood agents figured that the FBI agent Green would convince Lionel Ulysses to claim the tail was a costume piece, as their contacts in the FBI gave some indication that Theodore Green was either married to a were or was a close friend with a were, but Lionel Ulysses's murder was enough to hide that and left the two Luna Brotherhood agents concerned that the press, particularly reporters like Tom that didn't fully by the "costume piece" story.
They'd cleared a couple of those hurdles in that they were able to leave enough evidence that Tom wouldn't be able write off the the "costume piece" story and moved on to trying to find Lionel Ulysses' killer. They didn't know that the woman they lead Tom to was a werefox or that the two had bonded in every possible way. Their focus was more on Dymixious and the clues that had lead them to this man. They may have been coincidences, but they had found that Dymixious was a were and of a reptilian variety, likely a lizard, but the scent they had was faint and masked which the two Luna Brotherhood agents knew would leave dealing with this Dymixious could end in a fight. That had both of them coming to Moon Lake, as Moon Lake was the closest place that this Dymixious could go to that the Seattle PD and the FBI wouldn't look to first.
"Yes," the senior partner answered, "a quaint little town run by weres and the sort of place where normals can see that we aren't monsters."
"But the rest of humanity won't see things that way," the junior partner gave a sigh.
"Yes," the senior partner answered, "but it's still a good little town and one of the reasons the Luna Brotherhood exists. We protect places like this... keeping law enforcement from learning about weres and removing rogues before they can do damage to were society outside of sanctuaries like this place."
The junior partner watched as his senior partner drove down one road and came up to a larger stone building that had two stories and looked in a way like it had an administrative building on one end and a courthouse on the other but was joined together in one building. The senior partner pulled to a stop by the curb near the doors and put the vehicle in park. The junior partner felt things did look fairly calm and almost casually looked around as he got out of the car.
"And we're to look for Dymixious here?" the junior partner asked as he looked toward city hall and noted the setting sun behind the building.
"No, our mission is to talk to the mer in charge of this town," the senior partner answered, "let him know that a dangerous criminal with a arrogance problem and likely anger management issues is hiding here. We'll need some local police help if we're to catch Dymixious and get him to where we can interrogate him or kill him if he resists."
The junior partner blinked and raised one eyebrow. His senior partner caught this and sighed.
"Look... I know there is a lot you may not know... since you're from Spokane, but I did grow up here in Moon Lake," the Senior Partner spoke, "and when I get the spare time... I do like to come home. Moon Lake's mayor is a weremer and it's he we'll need to talk to."
"I've never heard of weremers," the junior partner spoke as they made their way up the steps and into the building, "though my folks really didn't have much in the way of contacts..."
"They exist," the senior partner spoke as they looked around the lobby and noticed the stairs. The two started in that direction when they noticed a lone man coming down the steps. He looked a bit tired and stressed, but still fairly strong and both Luna Brotherhood members noted his mixed scent of fish and men's cologne. "And there he is now. Come with me."
The two made their way up to him and the senior partner was first to introduce himself.
"Mayor Stovall, may my partner and I have a moment of your time?" the senior partner spoke.
Martin Stovall, Moon Lake's mayor gave a small yawn. He'd previously been out of town while dealing with his mother's broken leg and her wish to be active even if it meant exposing herself as a weremermaid, and had returned to find some idiot businessmen hiring hit-men to murder victims of a rogue werefox and disrupt their wedding, and actually getting some success at it, while at the same time the police were investigating a high school teacher for potentially violating Statute 1A, and some were-komodo-dragon who was another potential rogue was hiding in his town and expecting to be protected by the local Skulk. A lot of it was stressful, and at times made him want to go back to his mother's and take Melissa and Julie with him. Melissa would thus be closer to her own parents and their family could still be together, but he knew that wouldn't work. He had good friends in Moon Lake he couldn't just leave and Julie had fallen for a young boy that had recently moved to Moon Lake as well. He couldn't ask her to abandon her one true love, anymore than he could ask the boy's parents to give up their son to keep his daughter happy. So, he'd put up with the stresses of being Moon Lake's mayor.
"Is there something I can do for you, sirs?" Martin asked calmly, "and I trust this isn't something that will take long..."
"My partner and I need to discuss some matters with you... privately," the senior partner spoke, "they concern Moon Lake's security."
Martin gave a frustrated sigh, as he had clearly wanted to head home for the evening, but it would appear two guests had new business they wished to introduce.
"Come with me to my office, we can talk there," Martin answered, turned and began to climb the steps again. Both Luna Brotherhood agents followed, noting the impressive stone and woodwork that went into the building's construction, but also noted that when they arrived to Martin's actual office that it wasn't very large, which gave some indication of the building's age.
"I thank you for your time," the senior partner spoke, "I am Gustavus Amehr and this is my partner Quentin Fives. We are both agents of the Luna Brotherhood..."
"Luna Brotherhood... where..." Martin said slowly.
"We've been a secret society of weres dedicated to helping keep the existence of weres secret by almost any means necessary," Gustavus spoke, "You likely heard about our society from your own histories of Moon Lake and the supposed deal with Washington for rights to land in exchange for military service during the Revolution."
Martin blinked but didn't say anything.
"Right now, we're on the trail of a lone were we are certain poses a threat to were secrecy," Quentin added, "in relation to all the other issues related to the were secret's risk of exposure... going back to Lionel Ulysses arrest."
Both Gustavus and Quentin blinked as Martin sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before he actually spoke. It said to them that there was something that they didn't know, which was surprising.
"I take it this relates to one Dymixious Drake?" Martin asked with fairly suspicious eyes fixed on the two werewolves.
"How...?" Gustavus gasped.
"Dymixious has a past with one of our residents and based off of some idea on favors from before she moved here to Moon Lake," Martin answered, "However, she's had little real trust for his honesty and informed our police. For the moment, we have him under surveillance to make sure he doesn't cause any more trouble here and to keep him here until the manhunt outside of Moon Lake calms down..."
"I don't think it will calm down," Gustavus spoke after a few moments of stunned silence. He hadn't expected anything like this, "From what we know, they suspect his involvement in likely several murders with a similar MO and with a fairly high degree of aggression. Monitoring him isn't the safest thing for anyone. If left to his own devices... Dymixious could very well find himself in a situation where he could expose all weres, regardless of whether or not that is his intention. He's a wild card that cannot be allowed to cause further trouble."
"And I take it you want the help of my officers to catch this Dymixious?" Martin asked as he continued to eye the two Luna Brotherhood members.
"We may need the extra muscle should he fight," Gustavus spoke, "but his threat to our existence's secret is that serious. The quicker he vanishes... the less likely some reporter looking for a scoop is going to come here. Or expose you some other way... or the law enforcement agencies hunting Dymixious catch up with him."
"Yes, I'm well aware of the threats that Dymixious poses," Martin answered, "and I'm well aware of the pressure everyone will be under to keep Moon Lake's secret... but now is not the time for a major war with him. We have a wedding coming up that is of great importance to the Moon Lake Skulk and has its own complications that has the town on edge. Battling Dymixious will only complicate matters."
Gustavus sighed. He figured this related to some things related to a "Jenkins/Harper Wedding" that he'd heard about. He'd thought, however, that by now with the were secret under threat that that thing would have been cancelled until the overall situation was safer.
"And you're letting this wedding go?" Quentin demanded.
"Give me one good reason to deny a pair of werefoxes the right to marry?" Martin asked, "Secret or not, from what I understand, they set the date BEFORE Lionel Ulysses got himself shot and then murdered and have outside pressures from a still NORMAL family in addition to an suitor that doesn't realize that he's lost the young vixen. The situation there is already complicated. We'll keep an eye on Dymixious and make sure he doesn't cause any trouble... if you wish to assist in watching him, that's fine... but we won't take the risk of forcing a fight with him until after the wedding and we can martial the forces available. I will also say that as a government official... albeit only a city official... that any operation must follow within the letter of the law. Just killing Dymixious could very well have the same consequences that his murdering of Lionel Ulysses has caused."
Both agents gave a heavy sigh. Not only was Moon Lake already aware of Dymixious's threat, which negated Gustavus and Quentin's intention to warn them, but they were also facing a tough position regarding other affairs that they apparently couldn't get out of. That would make their mission tougher.