Legacy Lost

by Jillian David

  What the heck?

  Shelby let down the filters and opened her mind. Tarry, hot, swirling evil coated her senses, and for a moment, her vision shut down. She mentally backpedaled out of the connection. Blinking until wan daylight reached her retinas, she caught sight of Garrison pulling Sara down from the railing and pushing her behind him as he raised his shotgun toward the dark figure.

  Shelby met Sara’s wide eyes and nodded, trying to reassure her. This woman didn’t need to get caught up in the weird drama surrounding the Taggart family. She sure as heck didn’t need to get hurt.

  “Son, bring the horse to the back of the corral,” Garrison said in a level, calm tone.

  Based on the emotions zinging from Garrison and impacting her filters, her brother was anything but calm inside.

  “Shelby, help Zach out of the corral and down from the horse,” he continued.

  “Come on, Zach Attack.” She set the gun down and motioned him to the gate, keeping one eye on the motionless dark . . . thing facing them. The act of looking at it triggered a twist of nausea.

  Once Zach and the horse were through the corral gate, Shelby grabbed the reins. “Get down.”

  Zach fumbled to get a booted foot out of the stirrup, and she helped him dismount.

  The horse chewed at the bit, nostrils flaring. Its ears were flat back against its head. Not good. She jogged him into the smaller barn, shut the door, and ran back to the corral.

  With Zach now safe, Shelby placed his hand in Sara’s. Shudders racked Shelby’s body as waves of evil poured off of the creature in the field. It was all she could do to stay upright beneath the onslaught. Funny, the more she focused, the less she could see it. Maybe it had to do with the overcast day or the sun going down. She blinked and concentrated. No good. Still couldn’t focus.

  “Sara, please take Zach into the house and lock the door. We’ll take care of this.” She nodded toward Garrison.

  The two walked quickly to the house, Zach looking back, his face pale as he stared at his father.

  Shelby picked up her gun and sidled around the opposite side of the corral, triangulating with Garrison on the figure and aiming her revolver at it.

  “Who are you?” Garrison called out. “What do you want?”

  The dark shape didn’t move but wavered, like a flag inside of a heat mirage. It was almost easier to see the figure better if she looked out of the corner of her eye.

  “Get off my property.” Her brother pumped the shotgun.

  Shelby’s heart pounded like galloping hoof beats.

  A chuckle, or whatever raw noise passed for it, like an animal getting stomped to death, turned the blood in her veins to ice.

  The figure raised a hand, and Shelby kept her gun aimed at the thing. “If you hurt one of us, the other will kill you dead,” she called out.

  A strange voice, wide and hot like a roaring furnace, replied, “You’ve had your warning, Taggarts. Next time there will be blood spilled.”

  Garrison’s shotgun didn’t waver one inch. “What are you talking about?”

  “You thought you killed Hank Brand?” the figure said.

  Of course he did, when an explosion went off in the shack where Hank had kidnapped Sara and Zach. Only, no one found Hank’s body, did they? Shelby concentrated. Was this what Wyatt meant when he talked about the Great One and a second coming? Somehow it had to do with Hank.

  Shivers skidded down her spine.

  That damned thing had gotten bigger. She had trouble pulling enough oxygen into her lungs.

  Shelby was no weenie, but right about now, she’d welcome Eric’s solid presence, stream of consciousness and all.

  “No one could have survived that explosion,” Garrison shouted.

  A sound of dried branches scraping against each other abraded her ears. “No human survived it.” A blink of transparency and for a second, she thought she saw a figure inside the black shape. No way. No matter how hard she squinted now, all she could discern was the indistinct shape.

  Then the figure’s size decreased. Even though she couldn’t see feet moving, he backed away. Or floated. What the hell?

  A breeze of sulfur made her blink away irritating tears. When she opened her eyes, the dark creature was gone. What? None of this situation made sense.

  Garrison’s face on the other side of the corral had gone deathly pale. She met her brother at the gate. The grim set to his mouth made her gut twist into more knots.

  “Garrison?”

  “Son of a bitch. Now we have bad things coming onto our property and threatening the people I care about. I’ll be damned if something makes me flee my own home.” He paused.

  “But?”

  “We have an old man, a schoolteacher who doesn’t know the first thing about defense, and my son. No Kerr. No Eric. No Vaughn. And innocent guests who shouldn’t have to deal with our mess. We have no help for miles.” A rare glimpse of frozen blankness on her brother’s face scared the living hell out of her.

  “What do we do?” He didn’t answer. “Garrison?”

  He pinned her with his amber stare. “We are fucked.”

  Chapter 24

  Daylight the next day took far too long to arrive. Both she and Garrison had been up all night, patrolling the ranch together. Sara had slept in Zach’s room. Through the entire evening, Dad kept snoring away, oblivious to the world around him.

  Odie insisted on staying up as well, as “extra eyes” to watch out for the ranch. Not sure why he did it, since Garrison had made a lame excuse about wild animals to try to explain to the couple why everyone in the house was suddenly nervous. But bless Odie for accepting the information, then adding his strength to the effort. As a matter of fact, he’d accompanied her to the barn and checked it out before sauntering back to the house. Lucky Ruth. He was a good guy.

  Garrison had decided not to call Kerr and Eric back to the ranch. Not yet. Now more than ever, the Taggart family needed the income boost that a good recommendation from the magazine would give the guide service. Dad’s nursing care depended on the income as well.

  Since that run-in with whatever the hell came onto their property yesterday, Shelby’s breathing had worsened. Damn lungs had tightened up overnight, starting right after that whiff of sulfur. With a rattling wheeze, she rubbed Bob’s velvety nose and poured feed pellets in his bucket. Glutton that he was, her horse promptly ignored her ministrations and shoved his head into the food, chomping away.

  Checking the stalls, she made sure the other horses were doing okay. None of these animals were used to the cramped quarters in this smaller barn, but it couldn’t be helped. Until the big barn was rebuilt, this one would have to do.

  A memory of the charred remains of Vaughn’s punching bag in the wreckage of the main barn caught her off-guard. Her chest ached and not from the wheezing. No. Garrison was right. What’s done was done. Vaughn had his reasons for staying away. Somehow, she and Garrison would work together and keep the ranch safe and running as smoothly as possible.

  This week, Shelby and Garrison had winterizing work to do on the smaller barn. With the colder weather, it would cost too much to keep this uninsulated building warm enough for the horses and later for calving.

  When were the Taggarts going to catch a break? And what was that thing near the corral yesterday? It couldn’t be something to do with Hank. The sensations rolling off that . . . creature . . . were too strange. Too erratic. Too evil.

  Not human.

  She glanced over her shoulder as she shut the barn door.

  Something pinged her emotional radar. Adrenaline and fear zipped along her nerve endings. She turned before Garrison could call her name.

  “Shelby!” he yelled from the front door.

  Despite her wheezes, she ran over and stopped a few feet from him. “What?”

  He held the phone. “The guys have a big problem up in the mountains.”

  “What happened?” Had one of the guests gotten hurt? Kerr? Eric?

  “So
meone’s lost up there,” Garrison said.

  The air stalled out in her lungs. “Who?”

  “The goddamned blogger.”

  She pinched her nose. “Damn it.”

  “This was going to be Kerr and Eric’s big chance. Now all they’re hoping is that the guy isn’t dead.”

  “Oh no. Did they call Search and Rescue?”

  “Teams are all deployed elsewhere right now. Some went to Jenny Lake where idiot late-season climbers messed up. The rest are back at the ski area, starting another rescue.”

  “Police?”

  “Yeah, tried them, too. Big accident near Pinedale—semi versus two vehicles. Casualties, all traffic stopped, jaws of life. Said they’d get over to help with Kerr and Eric’s emergency call as soon as they could.”

  So, not in time. “Wow. That leaves . . . ”

  “No one.” He shook his head. “I hate to ask this, Shel.”

  Her heart dropped. “No. Please. Come on, Garrison.”

  “Can you go find him?” He raised his hands, palms out. “But don’t get into his head. Who knows what that’ll do to you. But can you try to use your radar? Please.”

  Her head already ached in anticipation of the task. “Damn it.” The tight breath hurt when she exhaled. “Okay. Let me get a few things pulled together first.” She took a quick check of her watch. Half past ten. The situation on the ranch and in their lives had gone past the red zone on the scale of zero to crazy.

  Enough of Garrison’s stubbornness, too. She had a phone call to make before she left to help Kerr and Eric.

  “You know where they parked the trailer?”

  “Roughly,” she said.

  “Eric’s going to meet you there with an extra horse. You’ll go to the camp and then track the guest.”

  “You told them I’d do it?” She pressed her lips together. “Without asking me.”

  “Kind of. Yes.”

  “Damn it, Garrison.”

  “So, will you do it? Please?”

  Anger prickled her neck and back. She understood this was important, but it was too easy to feel used. “Sounds easy enough,” she bit out. “What’s the worst that could happen, right?”

  “Shel, I’m sorry.” He paused. “Please, uh, don’t do anything stupid.”

  “Like go up into the mountains in the early winter and wander around looking for a stupid hunter until my head explodes? You volunteered me for the job.” Nothing about this situation felt right. It was like working with puzzle pieces from two different sets. Something was way wrong here.

  His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Please be careful.”

  • • •

  An hour later, after plowing through powdery snow that became deeper the higher into the mountains she drove, Shelby parked her Subaru behind the dually truck and trailer on the turnout of a remote forest service road. When she closed the car door, silence in the dull, cold midday light urged her to search the forest for more shadows. At least the wind had died down for the moment. A horse whicker reached her ears, followed by a tumble of emotions: anger, frustration, fear, disgust, interest.

  Eric.

  She raised her hands, trying to hold back the onslaught of images and words, but gave up and let them roll over her as he approached.

  “Shel?”

  She threw on the alpine jacket. Grabbing her Search and Rescue pack from the back of her car, she crunched through six inches of snow to where he dismounted from his horse. A second horse, Kerr’s, stood nearby.

  Fighting the urge to rear back from the wave of emotions, she instead stared at him. Relief to see him chased away the rush of thoughts flowing from his mind. For a little while.

  He lifted an arm toward her then after a few seconds, dropped it. “Still there, in the head, huh?”

  “Yeah.” She stepped back a few feet. The distance wasn’t enough to clear her head of his thoughts, but she tried to focus on the task before them. “So what happened?”

  He pressed his mouth into a hard line. “No idea. Kerr took the three guys out early this morning. Mr. Internet apparently decided to follow a track on his own, and we haven’t seen him since.”

  With a rapid calculation, she said, “It’s almost noon now. So, five hours?”

  “That’s about right. Guy could be anywhere.”

  “Any tracks for him?”

  “Oddly enough, no. And that’s what’s damned weird. Also, something spooked the horses last night. We figured it was the wind or an animal in the woods.”

  “But that explanation doesn’t quite fit?”

  “Exactly. Why? Have you been feeling weird things, too?”

  She mounted Kerr’s horse, backpack and all, and stared at Eric. Sandy hair peeked out from under his Stetson. His nose and cheeks were ruddy from the cold. And those damned blue eyes stared at her with a depth of need that shook her down to her socks.

  Especially when that gaze was followed by a barrage of ideas for what he’d like to do with her right now.

  “Can you hold it down some, please?” she managed.

  “I’ll try.” As he stared at the pommel of his saddle, the majority of his thoughts receded to a quieter, suggestive background dialogue. Better than nothing. How long he could keep a lid on his mind, she had no idea, but anything was better than the broadband data download of another person’s brain waves.

  For right now, she couldn’t handle any of it. The Taggart family had a lot of trouble, from multiple angles.

  At least she’d made that important phone call before leaving the ranch. Too bad she had to leave a message, but maybe something good would come of it.

  “Something bad is going on, Eric. Let me tell you what happened at the ranch yesterday.”

  Chapter 25

  Arriving at the camp, Eric took in Kerr’s worried expression. His friend had a nonchalant demeanor, arms relaxed, taking slow and casual strides, probably trying to keep the other two men calm, but the quick glance and rigid set of Kerr’s jaw told a different story.

  If Eric had Shelby’s power, no doubt he’d pick up on anxious feelings spewing off of Kerr in all directions. The situation had gone well past salvageable hours ago. They flat-out needed to find that hunter.

  What if the guide service folded? Kerr would always have his family.

  Eric would have . . . nothing.

  One of the clients wandered over. “This is the rescue party?” He snorted as he glanced around and then looked at Shelby.

  He smiled. Little did the guy know what this woman could do.

  Kerr clapped the man on his back. “My sister and Eric here are two of this region’s finest Search and Rescue team members. We’ll find your friend.”

  “What if they can’t? What about more people looking? Police? Someone official.”

  She stepped off the horse and tied the reins to a tree branch. With a groan, she dropped the backpack to rest on a tarp square. “Law enforcement has been called, but they’re dealing with some other emergencies in the county right now.”

  “Really?”

  “It’s a weird couple of weeks here in Copper River,” Eric said. You have no idea.

  “So what’s the plan?” the man asked.

  “I’d like for you gentlemen to hang out here,” Kerr said. “We’re going to find your friend. It may not be until after dark before we get back, though, so please be patient.”

  “What if you don’t find him?” The guest’s eye roll in Shelby’s direction nearly lifted the top off of Eric’s skull.

  Eric’s voice cut through the crackle of the fire and nickering horses. “We always find who we’re looking for.”

  Shelby’s head whipped up, the ends of her orange hair peeking out from the wool beanie.

  “Wow. Okay. If you say so.” The man shook his head and turned back around toward the fire. “We’ll keep this roaring for you, then.”

  Kerr, Eric and Shelby stepped to the side where Eric picked up his Search and Rescue pack and slung it over his shoulders. He
checked his watch. One o’clock. “Time’s wasting. Let’s get this over with.”

  She mimicked his motion and hefted her pack back on her shoulders. “Yep.”

  Kerr grabbed her arm. “Sis, I’m —”

  She cut him off. “I know. Everyone’s sorry. I get it.” Spinning around she glared at Eric. “And you have to shut down that noggin. I need to concentrate. Actually, you’re going to have to stay back at least a hundred feet from me.”

  “What the hell?” he spat. “Like a restraining order?”

  She reared back. “Because of that ”—she waved her hand in the general vicinity of his forehead—“right there, yes. I can’t think both my thoughts and your thoughts, dude.”

  He kept his hands curled into the backpack straps and ground his molars for a minute. More than anything, he needed to be close enough to protect her. “Okay. How about fifty feet and I try harder to keep a lid on the brain?” With even more effort than he had used before, he blanked his thoughts to duties of the task before them. His only concerns were for the dropping temperatures and remaining daylight. Geezus, it wore him out, focusing like that.

  As for a future, what a joke. Hell, did he seriously think they had a chance, if she needed to be far away from him to maintain her own sanity? What had he been thinking?

  Hope. Damn it, he’d have to think through this whole situation after they got back to the ranch. For now, he’d try not to impede her work. And he’d damn well keep her safe.

  “Let’s go,” she said, spinning on a heel.

  • • •

  The crunches of hooves in snow and jangle of bits provided light percussion as they moved through the woods, retracing the steps Kerr and the men had traveled earlier today.

  Once away from the hunting camp, Shelby opened up her mind and focused on the lost man. A stab of pain to her temple told her they were headed the right way. No idea the distance, but the direction was correct.

  She wanted to determine his condition, but fear stopped her cold. The last time she did that, she went blind. No telling what would happen if she tried it again.