by Chase Connor
“The sex?” I chuckled.
He chuckled as well. “Not from the sex. I hope.”
“No, not the sex.” I agreed. “Lucas, I need to ask you something, and I really want you to be honest with me, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Why do I feel like I just got you back?” The question begged to be asked. “Do you know why that is?”
He just stared at me.
“Lucas?”
“Rob…”
I waited.
“…I…look, I don’t know what compelled you to ditch Point Worth and everyone here. But obviously, you did feel compelled to leave ten years ago. Right?”
My head bobbed up and down before I even thought to do it.
“Do you know why you left?”
“To chase fame and fortune.”
He frowned.
“I mean,” I chewed at my lip, “I didn’t want to be here anymore.”
“Did you want to be rich and famous?”
“I guess?”
“Babe, I don’t think you’re being totally honest. Like, at all.” He shook his head. “But I don’t think you know you’re being dishonest either. Does that help?”
“Not in the slightest.”
As if summoned, the backdoor of the house swung open, and Oma appeared in the doorway, still in her nightgown and robe, looking as though she had just woken up. Lucas glanced over at me nervously as I looked across the lawn to Oma standing in the doorway, staring out at us as though she’d never seen us before.
“Well, what the hell are you idiots doing out there at butt-early-thirty when it’s this cold?” She hollered. “You’re gonna freeze your balls off!”
Lucas’ hand was in mine again, his fingers lacing through mine. I looked down at his hand as he squeezed mine.
A warning?
“We’re just talking, Oma,” I hollered back automatically, jovially even.
“Damn fine place to do it.” She gave an exaggerated shiver as she pulled her robe tightly around herself. “What the hell are you even doing here this time of morning, Lucas? Not that you ain’t welcome, of course.”
“I—”
“I invited him over last night, Oma.” I interjected.
“I can only imagine why.” She shook her head. “Well, when y’all get done playin’ grab ass out there, come in and I’ll get us some breakfast started.”
“We’re going to go on a walk first, Oma!” I hollered back.
“Freeze your asses off if ya’ want!” Came her reply. “Breakfast will be waiting!”
Then she disappeared into the house once again, the door swinging shut behind her. Lucas let out a sigh at my side that seemed to come from the very soles of his feet.
“A walk?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, not looking at him.
“You don’t want to go inside?”
“Not right now.”
Lucas had no response for that, but, instead, held my hand as I pulled him towards the woods. Together, watching everything in the periphery as we walked, Lucas and I walked side by side through the woods towards Lake Erie. Silence was the music of our march, though it was not uncomfortable, as we made our way through the skeletal woods. Spring was coming, but in the meantime, the woods were stuck in that fitful sleep between death and life. Lucas’ fingers squeezed mine as we walked hand-in-hand through the woods, stealing glances at each other, both of us wondering what was on the other’s mind. Why did I suddenly feel the way I did about Lucas…and why was he so cautious in speaking about it?
The woods that created a barrier between Oma’s house and Lake Erie were not incredibly dense, yet they were thick enough that we had to be careful on our journey. All of the trees were clear of snow and ice, yet there were still patches of snow scattered throughout the woods where the sun had not quite reached. Spring would fully announce its presence soon, and any trace of winter would be gone within days, but winter was still clinging to the woods with bony fingers, refusing to give up until forced. When we broke through the woods, the shore of the lake was before us; I felt relaxed and free. My body didn’t feel electric; every hair on my body didn’t feel like a live wire, I could breathe. I gave a wide smile as I looked out at Lake Erie’s—surely freezing—crystal clear waters and breathed deeply, squeezing Lucas’ hand in mine.
When I turned to look at him, he was smiling back, but I could also see the concern in his eyes.
“What is it?”
“I’m worried.” He said. “For you.”
“I’m not crazy, Lucas.” I let go of his hand.
He quickly grabbed my hand again, his fingers lacing through mine again, frowning at my yanking my hand away from him.
“That is not what I meant. I’m worried for you because of the wolves.” He explained. “Andrew was one thing—I mean shit happens, right?”
“To say the absolute least.”
“But to have three wolves—werewolves or not—wander up and try to attack you in the middle of the night…I mean, if they were werewolves, what if…”
I waited, but Lucas simply trailed off and did not finish his thought.
“Maybe Andrew and some of his buddies came to exact their revenge?” I prodded him.
“I mean, maybe?”
“I don’t know.”
“Could you tell if one of them was Andrew?”
“They were wolves.” I reminded him. “How would I know?”
“Not all werewolves look the same.” He said. “Just like regular wolves.”
“Well, I’m on a learning curve here.” I snorted.
Lucas smiled sheepishly at me.
“Do you remember what Andrew looked like in wolf form?” He asked softly, as though he didn’t want to keep asking about Andrew.
The reasons for that were obvious.
Andrew and I had been on a date.
Lucas and I were now dating.
Andrew was the other man.
The fact that I had nothing but contempt for Andrew didn’t factor into Lucas’ reasoning in the matter.
“I, um,” I chewed at my lip as I thought, “I honestly can’t say. It was all so quick and confusing. Not to mention terrifying. Maybe I was in shock during the whole thing, but I don’t remember much except that he turned into a wolf and I didn’t even know werewolves were real, Lucas. I just remember how angry and feral he looked. And his eyes. These wolves last night had the same kind of eyes. Not like some wild animal with a hunger for dinner, but something intelligent. These wolves knew what they were doing. They hadn’t just happened upon Oma’s yard and—”
“What were you doing out in the backyard so late anyway?”
“I thought I saw people out there, and—”
“Real smart, babe.” He teased.
Shrugging, I gave him a half-smile.
“People or wolves, there was obvious danger in the backyard.” His brow furrowed. “Why did you think there were people out there? Did you hear voices or something?”
“Hey.” I glowered.
“Not in that way.” He snickered. “Please stop implying that I’m calling you crazy for two seconds, Rob. I mean, did you hear people talking or calling out, or…something?”
“I guess?” I chewed at my lip. “We—I—woke up because of some noise or something and then I heard it again, and it was coming from outside. I looked out of my window and there was a person in…”
Lucas just watched me.
“I swear if you call me crazy…”
“I won’t.”
“Some person in like a hooded…cloak? Or robe?...was standing in the backyard. Kind of looking up towards my window.” I cringed at letting such a statement come out of my mouth. “Kind of like, I don’t know, ritual robes or something?”
Lucas was frowning deeply.
“Like a witch?”
I gestured with my hand, validating the suggestion.
“It wasn’t, ya’ know…?”
“It wasn’t Oma.” I shook my head. “To
o tall. Way too tall.”
“But you were looking down from the window, Rob.” He shrugged. “And you had just woken up out of a dead sleep, right? Maybe…”
“Look,” I shook my head softly, “I’ve been no big fan of my grandmother’s lately. I’ll give you that. But don’t try to implicate her in this. It wasn’t Oma.”
“Okay.”
“Oh, stop that.”
“Stop what?”
“That was sharp.”
“I was just saying ‘okay.’” He squeezed my hand. “Promise.”
“Okay.” I relented. “But I just know it wasn’t Oma, okay?”
“I believe you, Rob.”
“She’s crazy as hell, mean as shit, and she definitely hasn’t done much for me to want to like her a lot lately, but she wouldn’t lure me out into the backyard for any good reason, let alone so wolves—or werewolves—could attack me. If she wanted to hurt me, she’d do it herself.”
Lucas squeezed my hand. “I’m not lying to you. I believe you that it wasn’t Oma. I’m just trying to come up with—”
“What was that?” I whipped my head to the side.
“What?”
“Did you hear a scream?”
“Um, no.”
Lucas was looking at me like I was crazy again. I ignored his facial expressions and listened quietly, still holding his hand. No sounds, other than the water and the breeze and the crackling of the trees filled the air around us. Had there been a scream—or was I crazy? Unexplainably, I felt a tug in my gut again, something pulling at me, telling me to pay attention. A sudden urge to check on Oma came over me, overwhelming my senses.
“Oma.” I gasped.
Lucas looked shocked as I let go of his hand and whipped around, my feet moving of their own accord as I dashed towards the woods again. I was already past the tree line, running like crazy when Lucas finally managed to holler after me. Seconds later, I heard him running to catch up. My heart was pounding in my chest again, and I was gasping as I ran faster than I ever knew possible, trying to get back to Oma’s house as quickly as possible. By the time I reached the other side of the woods, I felt like I might pass out from the sudden exertion. My body still wasn’t back to one-hundred percent yet, so running through the cold woods through damp and muck wasn’t something it was prepared to do. Lucas had to be far behind me in the woods, unable to keep up with such a pace.
As soon as I broke through the tree line into the backyard, my eyes landed on Oma. She had fallen back onto the steps, facing the woods. One of the Kobolds—my guess was Lena—was by her side, trying to get her back up onto her feet. The fact that Oma looked like she had fallen wasn’t my main concern. The fact that a lady, completely nude, was stumbling through the backyards towards my grandmother was what had my focus. The strange woman’s back was to me, so I was treated to an eyeful of asscrack as I dashed across the backyard, trying to get myself between my grandmother and some weirdo.
Had I heard Oma scream for me from the other side of the woods?
“Hey!” I screamed as I got closer, though I had no idea where I found the breath to do so.
The woman kept stumbling towards Oma as she laid back against the steps, looking at the approaching woman in horror. The Kobold was pulling at Oma, looking both terrified and annoyed somehow. The strange, completely nude woman came into focus better as I approached and I could see that she only had hair on one half of her head. One side of her body looked nearly melted, covered in scar tissue. Grimacing, I ran even faster, wanting to make sure that the woman got nowhere near my grandmother. I watched as Lena pulled at Oma and Oma’s face changed from a look of astonishment to anger. Her hand slowly raised, pointing at the woman approaching her.
“Oma!” I screamed again. “No!”
Apparently, Oma hadn’t seen me burst out of the woods and come running across the backyard. My screams had obviously not reached her ears, either. When her eyes settled on me, her hand stopped in mid-air. I didn’t want Oma to suddenly send fire flying towards the woman when I was approaching from behind. Knowing my luck, she would miss, or the woman would duck, and we’d have Flame-Broiled Rob. A second later, I had reached the woman. I grabbed her by the shoulders, stopping her from moving any closer to Oma. She stumbled awkwardly, her body turning to face me as I gasped for breath, my heart thundering within my chest.
How I kept myself from screaming, I wasn’t sure. Half of the woman’s face was melted away. One eye was missing, half of her long brown hair scorched away, her scalp, face, half of her torso and lower half all looked like melted plastic—with just a touch of blood and other fluids to make her look even more frightening. The woman’s mouth opened and one eye looked out at me in desperation.
“Help me.” She managed to croak.
Then she was collapsing into my arms. With no other option, I reached out with my arms, catching her around the middle as she fell into me, completely still. Slowly, I lowered the woman to the ground, wondering what in the Hell had happened to her and why she had wandered up into Oma’s yard of all places. Oma was finally standing from the steps as Lena stood meekly at her side. I looked over at them, and Lena shyly stepped behind Oma, partially hiding behind Oma’s legs. Oma looked down at me in shock. If it hadn’t been for the sound of Lucas approaching the tree line, I wouldn’t have known what to do.
“Lena,” I whisper-hissed, “hide.”
In less time than it takes to blink, she had jumped down and disappeared into the slight shadows cast alongside the stairs. Then there was nothing. Oma looked down at where Lena had been, and then her eyes shot back over to me. I shrugged and slowly pulled my arms from around the woman as I laid her onto the wet lawn and Lucas came barging out of the woods as fast as he could. Oma took a second to calm herself before she walked over to stand over the naked woman on the ground and me.
Then Lucas was next to us, his hands on his knees, doubled-over as he clutched his side and gasped for breath.
“How did you get here so fast?” He gasped for air.
I wasn’t exactly ignoring him, but I didn’t have an answer, either.
“What the fu—”
“Robbie?” Oma was aghast. “Who is that?”
“I have no idea,” I responded robotically as I looked at the naked woman I was kneeling beside.
“Why the hell is she buck-naked?” Oma asked. “What the hell happened to her? I came out here to look for y’all to tell you breakfast was ready and she comes stumblin’ up with her hoo-ha hanging out, looking like something that crawled out of a swamp!”
“Oma.” I shot a disapproving glance up at her.
“Well, her cooter is hangin’ out, Robbie,” Oma grumbled, but her heart wasn’t in it. “I know you don’t want to see that any more than I do, for God’s sake. What the hell is wrong with her?”
Lucas was still panting, his hands on his knees as he stood next to the woman and me and I had to control the urge to snarl at Oma that it was apparent to anyone with eyes what was wrong with the woman. The compulsion got swallowed when I took a moment to consider the burns that went from the top of the woman’s head down to her foot on one side. When I noticed that her one remaining eye—which was open and lifeless—looked like a mix between a human eye and something else, it struck me.
“She’s dead,” I said simply.
“What?” Oma gasped.
“She’s—she’s dead?” Lucas was starting to get his breath back.
Looking up at Oma, I felt my stomach sink.
“You better call the police.”
“I’ll do it.” Lucas straightened up and dashed towards the back steps, shooting a look at me over his shoulder. “Sheriff Dennard. I’ll call him.”
“Oh, fuckin’ great.” Oma rolled her eyes as the screen door shut behind Lucas. “Just what we need.”
“Could you try and show some compassion?” I snapped up at her as I felt the woman’s wrist, praying that I was wrong.
“I’m showin’ more compassion than
whatever did that to her, ain’t I?” Oma threw her hands up. “Why the hell did she wander up in my damn yard? Couldn’t she have gone over to The Irish to cause trouble?”
The Kelly’s were “The Irish” that Oma was referring to as she stood there, flinging her arms in the air like a crazy person. A rotating cast from the Kelly brood had lived a few hundred yards away from Oma for more than a few generations. All Irish, red hair, annoying to Oma, and constantly being described as “ugly assholes” by her. Regardless of her thoughts on the Kelly family, I felt it was wrong to wish this upon them.
“She’s been burned bad.” I swallowed hard, ignoring my grandmother merely to state the obvious.
“No shit.”
“Oma.”
“Well,” Oma sighed, “bless her heart. I don’t mean nothin’. But this is certainly not how I saw my day startin’.”
“I’m sure this wasn’t how she wanted to start her day either.”
“No one wants to wake up dead, that’s for sure.” Oma shrugged. “How the hell do you think she got burnt up like that?”
“No idea.”
Lying hadn’t been on my agenda for the day, wasn’t how I saw my day starting, yet that lie was just the beginning.
Chapter 3
Lucas, Oma, and I were seated around the kitchen table, all of us with a mug of coffee and half-finished plates of food. None of us had found that we had a massive appetite after the Sheriff’s Department showed up, so we all had some eggs and toast left on our plates. Somehow, we had all found the ability to eat all of our bacon. Funny how that happens—even death couldn’t keep a person from wanting to finish any bacon that has been cooked. We all sat there, sipping at coffee, merely exchanging glances instead of talking, while the coroner worked out in Oma’s backyard and Sheriff Department employees milled about. Some were coming into the kitchen for coffee, which Oma happily kept making for them, while others were walking around the backyard and the woods. Apparently, in upper Ohio—especially within the city limits of Point Worth—a burned up naked woman wandering into someone’s yard, collapsing, and dying was a strange event.
“So, none of y’all know who this is?” Sheriff Dennard, who I had met for the first time an hour prior, poked his head in through the backdoor. “Because she obviously doesn’t have a purse or a wallet with her.”
