Ulrik

by Steven E Wedel

  “Yeah. You do.” The cop sipped his coffee and glanced back toward the house for a moment. He looked back to Thomas. “When was the last time you spoke to them?”

  “Oh, I’m not sure. A few months, I’d guess. I’m passing through on business and decided to stop in. Is there a problem? Are they all right?”

  “We really can’t say, Mr. Yates. There’s been an incident involving their son and we’d like to talk to the Stewarts about it. A couple of our officers talked to Mr. Stewart earlier today, then the situation escalated and when the officers returned, Mr. Stewart had left. We have not been able to locate his wife and son.”

  “An incident with Joey? What do you mean? Is the lad harmed?”

  “Like I said, we don’t know, sir. He was in an altercation with a classmate yesterday. The girl was hospitalized shortly after that. Now, the girl is missing.”

  “Missing?”

  “Yes, sir.” The cop sipped his coffee again, his gray eyes studying Thomas intently. “You wouldn’t happen to know another way of contacting them, would you? Relatives, maybe?”

  “No, sir, I’m afraid not,” Thomas said. “As far as I know, neither of them have any living relatives.”

  “Umm-hmm.”

  “Do you think … I mean, do you suspect foul play?”

  “Other than the disappearance of the girl from the hospital, we have no evidence to lead us that way.”

  “So, you don’t think David killed his wife and son?”

  “Do you think that, Mr. Yates?”

  “Of course not.” Thomas smiled. “I know the man doesn’t have it in him. He loves them dearly. Could it be somebody else was here after the other officers yesterday?”

  “We found some tracks in the snow outside the fence. It looks like three people approached the property, stood in sight of the surveillance camera for a while, then turned around and went back into the woods.”

  “That does strike one as odd. Hunters, maybe?”

  “Maybe. Is there a number where I can reach you, Mr. Yates?”

  “Well, officer, I was hoping to stay here for a couple of nights. Since that seems out of the question, I’ll be moving on. I have some business to attend to in Salt Lake. I could check in with you once I get into an inn there.”

  “I would appreciate that, Mr. Yates.” The cop shifted his coffee and reached inside his coat to a shirt pocket for a business card that he handed to Thomas.

  Thomas nodded and waved the card. “I’ll do that. I’m quite curious about this situation.” He put the card into his coat pocket. “Thank you, officer, and good luck to you.”

  The cop saluted with his Styrofoam cup as Thomas raised his window and began backing away. He kept his eyes on the car as it turned back onto the highway and headed toward Bozeman.

  “Ah, lassie, this does not look good,” Thomas muttered. He shook his head and pushed the car’s speedometer needle a little higher.

  Ulrik

  The small airplane came up the driveway toward his house, slowing as it got closer. Soon, the face of the pilot was visible. Ulrik did not recognize the man. He was debating whether to return to the house for a firearm, or strip off his clothes and change shape, when another figure appeared in the cockpit of the airplane. Ulrik sucked in his breath at the sight of the fair-haired boy.

  “Joey,” he whispered.

  The boy’s face was filled with excitement, his dark eyes wide, his hair mussed as if he’d been sleeping. He looked all around the flat landscape, at the enclosing ring of forest and the protective mountain towering behind the house. Then Joey’s eyes widened even more as they moved down the mountain to the house itself. And finally the boy’s eyes came to rest on Ulrik. He drew back a little from the window of the plane. That’s when Ulrik saw Kiona come up behind Joey and put a comforting hand on his shoulder to rest on his chest. He saw Kiona mouth his own name.

  The plane rolled to a stop. The werewolves who had been on sentry duty and who had chased the plane up the road crouched near the doors, growling, waiting for Ulrik’s command. Ulrik looked at the pilot again. The man seemed to be huge, with red skin and long black hair. An Indian, obviously, and likely a friend of Kiona’s.

  Has she given him the Gift?

  “It is Kiona and our young Alpha,” Ulrik called to the wolves. “All is well. Go back to your posts.”

  The wolves ceased their growling and trotted away. Ulrik watched them for a moment, thankful there were such members in the Pack – those who would follow orders and stick to a plan. He turned his attention back to Kiona. The Indian man was opening the door of the airplane. Kiona was first to jump out. She approached Ulrik.

  “You did not follow our plan,” he said.

  “It’s good to see you again, too,” Kiona answered. “No, I didn’t. I had a better idea at the last minute.”

  “If you were not in danger, you should have followed our pre-set course,” Ulrik said. “Who is this man you have brought to my home?” He nodded toward the Indian who now stood beside the open door of the airplane.

  “John Redleaf is an old friend of mine.”

  “A friend?”

  “Sometimes he is more. A childless woman gets lonely.”

  “Joey is well?”

  “He is. His mother warned him against you. I’m not sure he’ll trust you.”

  “But he trusts you,” Ulrik said. He looked hard at Kiona, guessing her intention.

  “I was there for him during his first cycle,” she said.

  “I should not have sent you to watch over him.”

  “It’s too late now. You will train him. But I will be his mother now.”

  Ulrik stepped closer and glowered down at Kiona. “You will not defy me again, Kiona Brokentooth. Your jealousy and selfishness will not stand in the way of the boy’s destiny. You will not stand in the way of what is best for the Pack.”

  The Indian man’s shadow fell over them and Ulrik looked up. John Redleaf stood protectively behind Kiona. He was very tall and powerfully built, at least six inches taller than Ulrik, with broad shoulders and a menacing scowl. Ulrik sniffed, detecting a strange scent from the man. He felt his eyes widen. John Redleaf only glared back at him, his face like a red stone, his deep black eyes impenetrable.

  “Yes, teacher,” Kiona said. “Your senses tell you true. John Redleaf accompanied me to Europe many years ago. To the forests of Scandinavia, where we met one of our few living cousins.”

  “He is … ?”

  “Yes,” Kiona said, nodding. “John Redleaf is a skin-changer. He becomes a bear. A very large bear.”

  Ulrik looked from Kiona back to the Indian. The man was smiling now.

  Chris

  His eyelids drooped. Chris forced them open, pulled his right hand from the steering wheel and slapped himself across the face. Hard. The sting brought him to a little. The morning sky had changed from pink and gray to a light blue. Some fog clung to the state highway here and there. Hesitantly, Chris looked into his review mirror.

  The red convertible was no longer behind him.

  Chris took his foot off the accelerator for a moment, startled by the absence of the car that had followed him almost since he fled his home. He’d half expected to see police cars in his rear view mirror as he raced away. He’d been surprised to see the convertible come up behind him a few miles from his property. The car came up fast, then rode his bumper. There were two men and a woman in the car and, when they were sure he was looking at them in his mirror, they all let their faces change shape so that Chris found himself looking at three humans with wolfish snouts and thick tongues lolling from canine grins.

  They’d followed close on his bumper for the rest of the day and through the night. He’d stopped for gas once at a large truck stop. The convertible had pulled to another bank of pumps and one of the male werewolves had filled the car’s tank while the female went inside to pay. Both males had watched Chris as he filled the dual tanks of his truck, their eyes showing their amusement at the ga
me they were playing. They’d filled their car first and waited until Chris finished and paid for his gas before returning to their place right behind him on the highway.

  He knew they’d still been there when the night sky first began to lighten with the dawn, but apparently had dropped off sometime after that. They must have stopped for more gas.

  Chris checked at his own fuel gage and realized it was on E. He flipped a switch on the dashboard to change tanks. The truck misfired once, then continued traveling smoothly over the asphalt.

  “Where am I?” Chris muttered. He knew he’d crossed over into Utah at some point during the night. At the moment, he wasn’t even sure what direction he was traveling. “Fuck!” He slapped the steering wheel in frustration.

  He wanted to turn around and go home. Had the cops searched the house, then left? Were they waiting there for him – or for Shara and Joey – to come home? What would they do? How many people had Fenris’s followers killed in the hospital? What would the police do if Shara returned? What would they do with Joey?

  Dammit Shara! How could you hide all this from me?

  A sign promised a rest stop with facilities was located five miles ahead. Chris checked his rearview mirror again. No convertible.

  He pulled off the highway at the rest stop, just a branch off the highway with a block of a building holding toilets, but there were two payphones mounted on one wall. Chris deposited some coins and called home. The phone was picked up after the second ring.

  “Stewart residence.” It was a man’s voice, authoritative and emotionless. Chris knew it was a cop.

  “Hi David,” he said. “Is Linda home?”

  “May I ask who’s calling?”

  “This is Ken. Don’t you recognize my voice?”

  “This isn’t Mr. Stewart,” the man said. “This is Deputy Jim Moore with the Gallatin Country Sheriff’s Office. Do you have any information on the whereabouts of David or Linda Stewart, or their son?”

  “Umm, no,” Chris said, feigning surprise. “What’s going on? Are they in some kind of trouble?”

  “Where are you calling from, sir?”

  Much longer and they’ll be able to trace the call.

  Chris hung up. He stood by the phone for a long moment, thinking. Shara hadn’t returned. He couldn’t decide if that was good or bad. Had she realized something was wrong and avoided the house? How would she know anything was going on? How – ?

  Chris stopped. Shara had kept things from him before. The stupid name David Stewart was something she’d arranged for him without his consent or knowledge. Chris realized she could have known about Fenris and the danger he presented for some time and simply never told him.

  She wouldn’t do that. Not if it involved Joey’s safety.

  He wished he could be sure of that. He felt like he couldn’t be sure of anything anymore.

  Chris went back to his pickup and got behind the wheel. But instead of starting the engine he reclined the seat and closed his eyes.

  I have to rest. I can’t keep driving. And where the hell will I go?

  He knew the answer. They’d discussed it before. Following their long ago flight to Montana they’d arranged the sale of Chris’s Oklahoma ranch to one false name, then another to throw off the Pack and anyone else looking for them. The house had been trashed by werewolves when he and Shara left it, but they’d had everything repaired and paid to have the landscaping and house maintained over the years.

  Just in case.

  “Shara will look for me there,” Chris said aloud. “She may already be there. With Joey.”

  He soon slept. He didn’t notice when the red convertible left the highway and eased up behind his truck. He didn’t know when the three werewolves found that in his exhaustion he had forgotten to lock his doors.

  Chris opened his eyes when he felt the hands dragging him from his truck. He crashed to the pavement, but before he could get up they had him again. He saw the face of one of the men for a moment before something slammed into his head. He felt his eyes rolling backward as a curtain of blackness came down. His body felt limp and heavy, but he knew it was being lifted off the ground and carried away.

  Then he lost consciousness.

  Joey

  He could hear Aunt Kiona and John talking to the big hairy man who had come out of the house to meet them, but Joey remained where he’d been told to stay, just inside the doorway of the little airplane. The man was huge and scary looking. And old. He must be at least a hundred years old. They talked for just a little while, then Aunt Kiona came back to the airplane and looked up at him with her big dark eyes. She was smiling. Joey smiled back.

  “Come on down, Joey,” she said, extending an arm to help him down the steps. Joey took her hand and skipped down the three steps to the dirt road.

  “That’s Ulrik?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Aunt Kiona said. “That’s him. Come on and I’ll introduce you.”

  Joey held Aunt Kiona’s hand as they approached Ulrik and John Redleaf. The way Ulrik was watching him made him feel very funny, like he’d done something wrong. But as he got closer, the man’s angry expression faded and he smiled, his beard lifting and his eyes sparkling as he did.

  “Hello, Joey,” Ulrik said. “It is very good to see you again.”

  “I’ve never seen you before,” Joey said.

  “No. No, you haven’t,” Ulrik said. “But I saw you when you were a baby. I was staying at your house in Montana for a while. You were just about three months old at the time.”

  “I don’t remember that.”

  “Of course not,” Ulrik said. “You were too young. I am a friend of your mother.”

  “Mom told me I should stay away from you. Why would she say that if you’re her friend?”

  Ulrik’s smile faltered for a moment and his eyes looked sad. “Well, we had a disagreement. A long time ago.” Ulrik smiled again. “But you are going to stay with me for a while.”

  “Is Aunt Kiona staying?”

  “Aunt Kiona?” Ulrik asked.

  “Yes,” Aunt Kiona said. She ran her free hand through Joey’s hair. He shook his head when she was finished so the hair would fall back into place. “Surely you know I’m his aunt,” she said.

  Ulrik made a grunting noise, then said. “Of course. Please come inside. Do you like my house, Joey?”

  “It’s big.”

  “Yes. There is a room just for you. I think you will like it.” Ulrik held out a hand to him, but Joey refused to take it. He held tighter to Aunt Kiona’s hand instead.

  “Come on,” Aunt Kiona said. “Let’s go inside.”

  Ulrik led the way. Aunt Kiona followed and Joey walked beside her. John Redleaf returned to his plane.

  “Is John leaving?” Joey asked.

  “No,” Aunt Kiona answered. “He’s just going to move his airplane and make sure it’s safe. Then he’ll join us in the house. Ulrik has asked him to stay here, too.”

  They went up the porch and into the house. There was a little hallway right inside the door. The hallway opened into a bigger room with a wide staircase and several more doors. Joey looked up the curved staircase.

  “Your room is up there,” Ulrik said. “Would you like to see it now?” Joey nodded. Ulrik chuckled and led the way up the stairs.

  “Were those werewolves that were running beside the airplane?” Joey asked.

  “Yes,” Ulrik answered. “Those are friends of mine.” He looked at Aunt Kiona and Joey thought he had a special look in his eyes. “There are many of my friends here. They are guarding you, Joey, making sure you are safe.”

  “Safe from what?”

  “We will talk about that later.”

  “Safe from what, Aunt Kiona?”

  “Remember how I told you that you are a very special boy? Well, there are other werewolves who are jealous of that. Ulrik and his friends will help me and John Redleaf protect you from them.”

  “And my mom and dad?”

  “Yes, them, too,
” Aunt Kiona said.

  Ulrik opened a door and waved them inside. Joey found himself in the biggest bedroom he’d ever seen, with a huge bed, a desk and big doors full of windows that opened onto a balcony.

  “This is my room?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Ulrik said, laughing again. “Do you like it?”

  “Yes!” Joey jumped onto the bed and clambered across the mattress to plop down among the many pillows. There were toys on shelves around the walls and a plastic toy box filled with more toys. “These are all for me?” he asked.

  “Yes, Joey. All for you,” Ulrik said. “This is your bathroom. It connects with my room, so I will always be nearby for you.”

  Joey sat up and looked from Ulrik to Aunt Kiona. “Where will Aunt Kiona sleep?”

  “She will be in the next room.”

  “Is there a door to her room?”

  “No. But she is just one door away down the hallway.”

  “Can she have your room?”

  “No,” Ulrik said. He came and sat on the edge of the bed. His eyes held Joey as he spoke. “Kiona brought you here to me, Joey, so that I can teach you how to use your Gift. There is much you must learn about being a werewolf. I taught Kiona how to be a werewolf a long, long time ago. I also taught your mother.”

  “You taught Mom?”

  “Yes.”

  Joey looked from Ulrik to Aunt Kiona. He was confused and suddenly wanted his mother more than he had since he’d run away from her. “I wish Mom was here.”

  “As do I,” Ulrik said.

  Aunt Kiona came to the bed and sat beside Joey, putting her arms around him. He snuggled close to her, and it was nice, but she didn’t smell like his mother. She petted his head, like he was a puppy, and he didn’t really like that.

  “Will Mom really be coming here?” he asked. He watched as Ulrik’s eyes moved from him to Aunt Kiona. He felt Aunt Kiona nod her head.

  “Yes,” Ulrik said. “Yes. I believe she will.”

  Joey felt Aunt Kiona’s body tense for a moment and she stopped petting him. He looked up at her and asked, “When?”