I smiled back, tilting my head toward Rebel. "His name is Rebel." I hefted the bag of dog food into the back of the Jeep and came around to them.
His smile was still in place. "I'm Jed Crowe and this is Maggie," he said. Maggie was a large female husky who seemed as interested in Rebel as I was in her companion.
“Taz Hunt," I said. Lady of few words. That's me.
"Detective agency?" He asked, nodding toward the magnetic Finders sign on my passenger door. A man of few words. We should get along great together.
"More like a Tracking agency. My brains, his nose." The truth, just not the whole truth.
Maggie was trying to fit as much of her face as possible through the window to Rebel, who was attempting the same from the inside. Their noses and tongues met in the middle, in a good old fashioned lick fest. Which brought up an important point.
"Has your bi...," I struggled to remember the politically correct term and came up empty. "Uh, has Maggie there been fixed?"
He didn't smile, but the corners of his gorgeous deep brown eyes twitched. I leaned back against the Jeep and waited. It was a legitimate question.
"She, nor I, have ever been broken to the point of needing to be fixed," he said. His voice was nice. Deep, rich, and unhurried, with a hint of an accent I just couldn't quite put my finger on. It put me in mind of dark chocolate coated strawberries. In a word, yum. The perfect bedroom voice, or at least so I could imagine. It was a good thing Mason was coming tomorrow. If I was going to blow it, at least it should be with someone I knew and trusted and not some stranger.
"Well, unless you want a litter of extremely large but beautiful pups, I'd keep her away from Rebel. He's never been broken either."
I threw the bag of Pepsi into the front seat and climbed in. As I buckled up and turned the key I leaned out the window and smiled up at him. "You, on the other hand, are probably safe. Reb doesn't swing that way."
As I pulled out of the parking space, I could hear his soft laughter behind me. Now that was what laughter should sound like. It was a dang good thing Mason was coming tomorrow.
THAT FEELING OF SOMETHING I needed to do was back. Stronger than ever. I turned onto State Road 67 out of Spencer and then immediately wondered why I had. Now I would have to turn around or take the really long way home. The old adage you can't get there from here was basically true in this case.
I turned on my signal and prepared to duck into a driveway, but my car kept going straight. Probably because my hands refused to turn the wheel. I started to panic. I needed to turn around. There was no shoulder to pull off onto, so I kept going straight, fully intending to take the next road anywhere to get off 67. Then my mind went on autopilot.
I was vaguely aware of what my body was doing but could do nothing to control it. My will was not my own, but I no longer felt panicked about it. I didn’t know if that was good or really, really bad.
A few minutes later I turned into a country driveway and parked outside a small yellow brick house. Not small like my tiny house, probably a two or three bedroom home. It was ranch style with an attached garage and a wrap-around porch covering the front and left side of the home. The porch held a comfy looking swing, an old-fashioned metal glider, and two wooden rocking chairs with side tables. Nothing ominous or scary. I sat there and stared at the house. It didn't look evil. But I still had absolutely no idea why I was there.
The front door opened and an older lady with a cane stepped out onto the porch and looked toward me. She was probably wondering who the crazy lady in her driveway was and what she wanted. I wished I could tell her.
"Well, are you going to sit there all afternoon and waste all your expensive gasoline or are you going to come in so we can get started?" She had a very authoritative voice.
I had the odd urge to look over my shoulder to see who she was talking to. All I saw was Rebel sitting happily in the back seat, tail wagging and ready to go. I had no idea who she was expecting, but I was pretty sure it wasn't me.
Wondering how I was going to explain why I was there when I didn't even know myself, I climbed out of the Jeep. And almost got run over by my own dang dog.
Rebel bounded over the backseat and through my driver’s door before I could shut it, headed for the woman as fast as his big furry paws could take him. Great. Already under suspicion of being a killer, a mauled grandmother was going to look perfect on his record down at the jail. He'd be locked up by dinner time. Before I could even get his name out in a high-pitched shriek I had no idea I was capable of, the woman was on the ground and Rebel was going for her face as she tried vainly to hold him off.
I ran. The woman on the porch was making an odd noise. It wasn’t until I was on the porch that I identified it as muffled laughter. Muffled, because she was trying her best not to get frenched by my dog. Reb wasn't biting, he was licking.
After a moment of mutual gushiness, Reb sat down with his tongue out, gazing adoringly at the woman as she struggled to her feet with the help of my offered hand. She was even shorter than me upright, around five foot with nothing to spare. She had the look of a beloved, if strict, grandparent with black and gray hair hanging halfway down her back in a no-nonsense french braid.
"I am so sorry," I said. "I'm so glad you're not afraid of big dogs. He normally waits for me," I said, giving Reb a meaningful just wait until I get you home look. In response, he grinned up at me and darted past the woman and into her house.
"Reb!" Fudge nuts! Was what got into me earlier now in Reb? Could he not control himself? Although to be honest, he sure didn't look like he was in any despair over it.
The old lady laughed. "At least he knows he's expected."
I was torn between pushing past her myself and retrieving my suddenly too friendly dog and waiting for an explanation. Since she didn't seem too worried about a 120-pound dog romping around inside her house, I decided to wait.
She sighed. "You really are just a child, no matter what your years, aren't you? Do you know it took three Callings to get you here? But then, you didn't exactly have the luxury of anyone to train you, did you? And what with the goings on lately, I reckon your mind has been elsewhere." She shook her head. "Well you're here now, and we'd best be joining that dog of yours afore he gives up on us."
She held the door open and motioned for me to go in. Had this woman used my gift against me to bring me here? A reverse Finding? Heaven help me, I wanted to run the other way. But Rebel was inside, and an alpha has a responsibility to her pack mates. I stepped inside.
The main part of the house was an open concept. The front door opened into the living room area beyond which was the kitchen and dining area separated by a bar with stools. In front of a large fireplace in place of a rug, there was a large cowhide spread out on the floor. Different yes, but not necessarily evil. Unless of course, you were a cow. Or a were-cow. Hand crocheted doilies covered the backs and arms of furniture and the centers of table surfaces and a colorful hand stitched quilt hung on the wall, giving the whole place an air of country charm. It felt like...home.
Reb was beside the fire, sitting there contentedly while a young teenage girl made over him. Now she could be evil. Her hair was dyed black as sin and hung straight down past her shoulders, with her makeup layered on in all the darker hues. I didn’t even know they made black lipstick.
She was dressed in a large black shapeless housedress that hung on her body. She stood when she saw me. We were about the same height, but she made my 115 pounds seem heavy. A good wind could carry her away. The dress could easily act as a parasail.
I jumped and whirled as the door shut behind me. The girl laughed. I tilted my head to judge it. Not like she was happy to have me for dinner—literally—, but rather that she was ...amused by my fear. Well if I knew what the heck was going on, maybe I could be amused too. As easy as that, my fear and doubts turned to anger. After all, it was two on two and I was pretty sure Reb and I could take them.
The old lady was good. She sensed my mood s
hift and spoke before I could. "You don't have anything to fear here, Taz," she said softly, trying to curb my anger. Too late. "My name is Rose Waters, and your dog's new friend over there is my granddaughter, Lilith. We are Benandanti, too."
With those four simple words, my whole world changed forever.
Chapter 5
Benandanti. Weres. I had only known two other weres in my entire life of 32 years. My mother and my sister. Both were dead at the hands of the Beast. Only Mother's body had been put to rest beside my father's, but there had been enough blood at the scene that my sister's death had been ruled as certain. I had tried to track her. One of the very rare times my Finding had failed. Not dark, not light, but whenever I focused my Finding on my sister it was as though she had never existed. Gone. Never was.
We were sitting at the small dining table. All four of us. Me, Rose, Lilith, and Rebel, who looked very proud of himself sitting on the hard wooden kitchen chair. I never said my dog was normal.
In fact, if Rose was to be believed, we were a gathering of four Benandanti. Even Rebel. According to Rose, the Benandanti Foundation...we had a foundation?...knew of Rebel and me, but had only recently decided the time was right to bring us into the fold. I figured it was because they needed something from us.
I was right.
"Your great-grandmother never was quite right in the head, I'm sorry to say. I only met her once, mind you, but I'm not sure that counts as she was a wolf the whole time. She only changed to a human when she absolutely had to. It broke your great granddad's heart. But she was in love with a true wolf. An Alpha, of course. Gray and black and as wild as the night itself. Their coupling was the beginning of Rebel's line. I'm sure you've noticed that Rebel is no ordinary dog."
"Oh yeah. I noticed," I said, feeling betrayed somehow.
Rebel had come into my life just after I'd been left on my own. At the time I'd been with foster parents and hadn't been able to keep him. But whenever I'd went into the woods to change and run, he'd been there. Running at my side. My friend, protector, and pack mate.
Once I'd gone through the court system and gained the right to independence, I bought the cabin with money from my parent's estate. It had seemed natural for Reb to move in, too. I guess I should have known something was up. Rebel would have to be at least sixteen now, and he still had the energy of a puppy.
Then it hit me. "Wait a minute. My great grandmother? That would make us..."
"Cousins," Lilith said, enjoying every minute of this. She obviously thought we were all nuts, but she seemed willing to go along for the ride. She hadn't turned sixteen yet. When she did, she'd believe. Growing fur all over your body will give you faith in weres, all right.
While I was still coming to grips with the fact that my pack mate and I were related, Rose decided to spring another surprise.
"Of course, we aren't wolves, Lilith and me."
I blinked slowly, staring at her. "But I thought you said you were Benandanti? I mean how do you know about all this if you aren't..." Oh. They were not wolves. That didn't mean they weren't still weres.
"So what are you?" I asked, slowly, somehow dreading the answer.
Rose shook her head. "I'm not quite ready to share that with you yet, I'm afraid."
"What?"
She sighed. "I only recently found out about you, dear, please believe that. If I had known...well, by now we would be family and have full trust in each other, and your life could have been so much easier. As it stands, we all need a little time."
"But you know what I am. How is that fair?"
"It may not be fair, Taz, but then life rarely is. You'll know what we are in time. I just want you to accept us as people and friends first. You'll understand when all is said and done, I promise."
I swallowed my arguments down. They weren't going to get me anywhere anyway. That freed up my mind for the big question.
"So you just found out about me?"
Rose nodded.
"Okay, so what exactly is this Foundation and where were they when I needed them? And more importantly, just what do they want from me now?"
Rose slumped slightly in her chair. "This is where it gets complicated. I know you want answers right this minute, and I don't blame you. I'll tell you what I can, I promise."
This is where it gets complicated? I'm not sure my brain had even assimilated all the simple stuff yet.
"Look, this is all fascinating, really it is," Lilith said. "But it sounds like you and Gran have a lot to discuss, both of you being mythical were-creatures and all. And I've got a report due Monday I really need to work on, so I think I'll leave you two..."
"Woof!"
Lilith grinned. "Sorry, Rebel...three, to it." She stood to leave.
"Sit." Like I said, Rose had a very authoritative voice.
Lilith sat. She started to speak, but Rose held up a hand, palm out towards her. "Now I know you think this is all a bunch of bologna, but chances are really good that when you turn sixteen next week, you'll be glad you listened."
"What do you mean chances?” I asked. “I thought she was Benandanti, too.”
"She is. As her mother was before her. But every now and again, the Creator chooses to give the Benandanti other paths to follow. Ones that don't involve being a were. It's rare, or else we probably would have died out already like history says we did. But it does happen."
"So, let me get this straight. Last night when you dumped all this on me out of the blue, you asked me to suspend my disbelief until next Friday, my sixteenth birthday. Now you are saying that when I don't change into some creature it won't be because all this is bull..." Lilith glanced at her grandmother's frown and changed her wording, "bologna. It will be because I am special and have a different path to follow. Yeah, way to give yourself an out, Gran."
"It. Is. Rare," Rose said. "Let's save that conversation for if and when we need it. Right now I think we need to get into a little history. Some of which you will know, Taz, but bear with me for Lilith's sake, please."
I nodded, not really wanting to get into just how little I really knew about our history. My parents had done as Rose had, and not forewarned me by more than a week before my birthday. Then they had concentrated on helping me become accustomed to shifting and how to control it. We hadn't even gotten that down real good before I was on my own to figure things out the best I could. I was mighty anxious to hear why the Foundation had left me out in the cold. So I sat through Benandanti 101. And learned along with Lilith.
In the 1600's the Benandanti went through the werewolf trials. These trials lasted for more than a century, during which our people supposedly died out. It is interesting to note that not one Benandanti trial ended in execution as most werewolf trials of that period did. This was not, surprisingly, because the Benandanti proclaimed themselves not to be werewolves, but because instead, they proclaimed the truth. Yes, we are werewolves. But we are not Satan's hounds, but God's. We are His good walkers and fight the evil that threatens our villages. We protect the village and the crops from those who would destroy them. We are the hounds of heaven. Through all of the Roman 'persuasion'—read torture—they held firm.
After the trials, our few remaining ancestors had gone underground, so to speak. Only a Benandanti mother passed the gene to her children, and only the female children passed them on. The male children were full Benandanti, but unless they mated with a Benandanti female, their children would not be. To protect the weaker members of their group and to ensure their survival through the centuries, the Foundation had been formed.
At this point, I broke in. A couple of questions in my mind just weren't going to allow me to take in any more information until they got answered.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Rose, but I need a couple of things clarified. One: you said the Benandanti admitted to being werewolves, but you said you aren't wolves, and two—and sorry if I keep coming back to this one—why didn't the Foundation take me in when I needed help?"
Rose leaned acros
s the table to take my hand, her eyes pinched and watery. "I am so sorry that you've been alone all these years, Taz." She squeezed my hand, then straightened back in her chair, resolved to continue.
"I'm not evading your second question, but the first is just plain easier, so I'll tackle it first. In those early years of the Inquisition, all weres were classed as wolves. Werewolf was the spoke word for any human that changed form into something else. Actually, some of our ancestors were said to be were-butterflies, though I don't know of any who have survived to the present day."
Rose got up from the table and walked to the refrigerator to pull out a bottle of water. "Sorry, dear, but my throat is dry from all this talking. Would anyone care for something?" Lilith and I both took a diet soda, although I for one was wishing for a little vanilla vodka chaser.
Looking at me with those heavy eyes, Rose finally answered my question. "The Foundation didn't help you, Taz, because they were afraid. Plain and simple. Forgive me just a little more history to explain.”
She took a long drink of water before continuing. “Sometime in the 9th century, way before our trials, Charlemagne formed a group of official wolf-hunters and called them "Luparii". This group was largely responsible for the decimation of the wolf population through the years to follow. Today the office of the Luparii is called the Wolfcatcher Royal. That office is fairly innocent, at least to us. However, the name Luparii was adopted by the Vatican, and another group formed. This group was trained not to track and kill ordinary wolves, but weres. It was the Luparii that killed your family, Taz." Her voice had lowered almost to a whisper with her last words, and her hand again held mine, though I didn't remember her taking it.
My parents had wanted me to go on the camping trip with them. I'd spent the last sixteen years regretting my decision to stay home, wondering if my presence would have made the difference. But I'd been a sophomore in High School and desperate to fit in with the crowd. Staying home alone was way more cool than going camping with your family.
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