Luckily I practice running on two legs as well as four, but two-legged running just can't keep up with four. Rebel knew to stay in sight, so he was slowed down by the humans following him. I was co-leading the human pack, with Jed matching me step for step. Dunwood was only a few steps behind, but within five minutes Ralph was struggling to stay within sight. The next time Reb stopped to check on us, I motioned him to wait. The last thing we needed was a heart attack on the trail. We caught up to Rebel and waited. Ralph caught up and fell to his knees gasping for air. We waited.
"Gotta...hit...gym...more," he panted.
I opened my pack and handed him a bottle of water. He nodded his thanks and downed the whole bottle. After that, he could talk a little better but was still a little wheezy.
"I'm just holding you up. You go on. I'll go back to the vehicles and wait. If you get a visual, call on the walkies and we'll meet you."
"No," I said. All three stared at me.
"Look," I reasoned, "maybe I have watched a few too many horror films, okay? But I say he doesn't walk away from us alone." I pointed at him, "He's even wearing red, for gosh sakes. Don't you know what happens to red shirts?"
Ralph looked down at his shirt and grimaced. "I couldn't have worn the blue one today?"
I was grateful when once again, Jed backed me up.
"I'm with Taz on this. That victim back there had a gun, too. Granted he wasn't expecting a wolf, and it caught him off guard. But I say we stay together." Jed smiled at Ralph. "This isn't your ordinary day of work. We'll take it easier from here on out." He looked at me. "Think you could convince Reb to go at a more moderate pace?"
I nodded. "Actually, we set the pace. Reb takes his speed from us. He won't get out of our sight." I looked over at Ralph. "I'm sorry, I got so caught up in the chase, I didn't notice you were in trouble. I've been running all my life, so I just kinda take it for granted other people have been too."
He grinned sheepishly. "I'm taking it up tomorrow, I swear."
Smiling, I gave Reb a hand signal and we were off again. Slower. Even with the slower pace, the trail didn't last much longer. Within another half an hour, we had intersected with the service road again. There were signs that a car had parked to the side of the road recently. Tire tracks were still evident in the grass and dirt.
The scent went to the tire tracks and vanished.
Chapter 12
Creator love him, Rebel gave them a good show. He sniffed the tire tracks and all around, leading us in every direction possible, searching for the scent. Even though he knew as well as I did that the scent drove off in the car. Finally, even Dunwood got the message.
"The scent ends at the tire tracks, doesn't it?" By this time, he could read Reb almost as well as I could.
I nodded, miserable.
He swore. "I'm betting it's someone training their half-wolf for the dog fights. God knows they have 'em around here all the time. By the time we track them down, they just change the location. They probably bring the wolf out here to hunt game for the taste of blood, to keep it a killer."
Jed nodded slowly. "It's a plausible theory."
"I'll have to talk to the district attorney, but once I catch the bastard, I want him tried for murder. That poor camper never stood a chance. That wolf was trained to kill, and kill fast."
I turned my back to them to hide my relief. If they were looking for humans and half-wolves, it would leave me free to look for the creature responsible. Dunwood's explanation also saved me from having to try to come up with one.
Ralph used his walkie to get a car to come around for us. It took two trips, but it was better than walking. It was now in the wee hours of the morning, and I'd been up for almost twenty-four hours. Now that the adrenaline of the chase was gone, my arm was killing me. I still had an appointment with my tweezers ahead of me before calling it a night. Or morning. Whatever the correct term was.
I didn't have to fake sleep on the ride back to my cabin. Rebel makes a good pillow. The twenty-minute drive wasn't nearly long enough, and I casually wiped my mouth as I woke when the car stopped. Sometimes I drool.
We piled out of the Explorer, and Dunwood left to check in with his office before heading home. Which left me and Jed. I know I have aspirations for the two of us, but only on a night when I would be awake for it. I didn't want to sleep through my first time making love. I yawned and told Jed goodnight, but he still just stood there.
"Why don't you book a room at the hotel until we catch that wolf? I don't like you living here with woods all around your house. It just doesn't feel safe."
"I've lived here for years, and I'm not exactly alone. Rebel's pretty darn good protection. Just ask him." I smiled. It was nice to have a man worry about me. "Besides, I have a .38 and I've been trained to use it. And I'm used to wolves. If anyone could survive a wolf attack, it would be me...or maybe you." I gave him the benefit of the doubt, anyway.
I walked up onto the porch and unlocked the door. Rebel had given up on us and had already let himself in and was sacked out on his rug.
"About that doggie door," Jed started.
"There's a latch on the inside to lock it. I promise to keep it latched when we're inside, and Reb's always the first one in when we get home. He's super male that way."
I turned to face him in the doorway and waved. Then I shut the door and was sitting at the table digging out my splinter by the time I heard his car heading down my drive.
Reb had done a pretty good job of it and had gotten the biggest pieces out. I spent a few minutes in painful extractions to get the remaining splinters out. I made a poultice like my mother had shown me to draw out bee stings and slathered in on the area, then covered it with a big bandage. It might not work on splinters, but it was worth a shot.
I took the few steps to my bed and fell onto it fully dressed. Sleep hit within seconds.
Of course, it didn't last long enough. Reb's nose nudged me again, and I opened one eye. "Let yourself out." He knew how to work that latch as well as I did. I rolled over, putting my back to him. He walked around the bed to the other side, levered the front half of his body onto the bed and nosed me again. This time I realized he had something in his mouth.
Curiosity got the better of me and I opened both eyes. My cell phone case? My dog had finally lost it. "Put it back," I said, yawning. "It's not ringing."
He nosed me again. I looked at the clock. Nine. I'd been asleep for less than four hours, half my normal sleep time. I plucked the phone from his mouth, repeating myself, "It's not ringing." Then I realized it had gotten turned off again. Possibly by a tooth? I flipped the phone on and rolled back over, hoping he would be satisfied.
The phone rang. Growling, I answered it. To hell with professionalism. "What?"
It was Lilith. "Gran says to tell you that Reb is more receptive than you are and that you need to work on that."
I growled again. "Thanks for calling to tell me that." I hung up and re-snuggled into my pillow.
The phone rang again.
"Shouldn't you be in school?" I answered.
"I stayed home today. Look, there's someone here and he's arguing with Gran. They keep talking about murder and killings, and I'm kinda freaked. Gran said to call you and tell you to get over here asap."
"I'm on my way." I hung up and the phone stayed silent. I grabbed my keys and we ran for the Jeep. My clothes may be wrinkled and on their second day of wear, but at least I was dressed.
There may never be a cop around when you need one, but the reverse sometimes holds true as well. I made the fifteen-minute drive in nine minutes flat. Rebel beat me to the front door.
Lilith opened it as I reached the porch. The sounds of arguments could be heard from the porch. We stepped in, and they grew louder.
The boy sitting across from Rose looked up at me and grinned, flashing me with his freakishly yellow eyes. There was a reason I wore blue contacts in skin form. While not in motorcycle leather today, he still wore what must be his trad
emark, purple. A loose fitting silk shirt with full, puffy sleeves in bright lavender topped off black jeans and purple and white tennis shoes.
"Finally, reinforcements," he said. "Come smell me, Taz and tell 'Cuz here I didn't kill nobody."
Walking slowly, I approached him, half afraid he'd disappear on me. I'd never gotten a good whiff of him, and I desperately wanted one. If this was our killer, I was pretty sure Reb and I could take him. Reb was circling him from the other direction. Great wolf minds think alike.
Breathing deeply I sorted through the scents as they fell into place. Vanilla, sugar cookies...Rose. Musk, lemon...Lilith. Roses on the table in a vase. And...coyote. The wild, uninhibited scent of coyote. Not wolf and not the creature from the night before. My body sagged in disappointment, and he pointed to me.
"See, I told you!" he shouted gleefully. "She knows it wasn't me. I keep telling you I don't do evil."
"You don't exactly stand on the side of good, either, you know," Rose said.
"Well no, that's the whole point. I'm neither good nor evil. I just get to have fun and watch the free will of man do what they please. I get the ball rolling, but whether a person takes the ball to the court of good or evil is totally up to them."
"Tell that to Jimmy Riley's parents," I said. "What you did to Jimmy borders on the evil side if you ask me."
He looked affronted. "How was I to know the kid had a bad ticker? And might I point out that he was illegally hunting my brethren on State Park property? He was a bad egg and it's not my fault he broke. It was totally an accident."
"You at least could have preserved the body for the parents."
"And begrudge my relatives their battle trophy? Never. You know, Jimmy and his friends had guns. It could have been my mates who were killed. All in all, it was a fair fight. Again, not my fault the boy was defective."
"Just what was your part in his heart attack anyway?"
He smiled. "Ah, what happens in the woods, stays in the woods."
"Uh-huh."
Rose followed our conversation like a volleyball match, her eyes first on me then Coyote. Who I'm guessing is named Roy.
"By the way, I want to thank you for sending Jed to me so early yesterday."
He beamed at me. "You're welcome. Did the two of you have a good time getting to know each other? It certainly looked like it from my viewpoint." He made kissing sounds. I reached out to smack him, but he ducked. The little dweeb was fast.
"Jed and Tazlyn sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g..."
"Enough." Rose's quiet but firm voice stopped Roy's mocking. He shut his lips and made a zipping motion over his grinning mouth.
"While I'm glad to know about Jimmy Riley, we already knew from the sheriff that it wasn't murder. I'm more concerned about last night's attack. The radio says it was a wolf." She stared hard at Roy. "But it just as easily could have been a presumptuous, overgrown, trickster of a coyote."
I nodded. "Could have been. But it wasn't. Unless he can change his scent. He just smells like coyote. Wild, reckless coyote. Last night...I don't know. The closest I can come is wolf-not-wolf. I haven't known many weres. Just my family and you guys, and I still haven't seen you were, so I don't know what your were-form smells like. My mom and sister were wolves. Plain and simple, in wolf form, they smelled like wolves."
Rose's brow drew together. "Then you don't think it was a were?"
"I don't think it was a wolf, either. So where does that leave us?" I sighed. "I was really hoping it was this guy and we could just truss him up for the Luparii and call it a day."
"Hey!"
"Just saying." I shrugged.
Rose looked at Roy. "I don't suppose we can count on your help with this?"
"Sorry. The whole neutral territory thing. I just felt it prudent to let you guys know I hadn't gone over to the dark side. I'm still walking the gray areas." He stood and stretched, winked at Lilith and vanished.
Lilith exploded from her chair, knocking it backward onto the floor. She had been on the fence—well actually on the other side of the fence—about the whole were thing. But a person disappearing right in front of you can make you start to believe in something. Too bad we can't do that. It was a neat trick.
"How'd he do that?" Lilith cried.
Rose sighed. "He is such a ham, always with the dramatic entrances and exits. To answer your question, Lily, he can do that because he's a godling. A left over from centuries of Native American belief in the Trickster."
Lilith stared at her Grandmother. "First weres, then Luparii assassins, and now a godling? How can you people sit here and talk about such nonsense when real people are dying? I heard the news, too. That camper is dead. By a wolf. Even if I believed everything you are telling me, Taz is the only wolf I've heard mentioned. You say we are something else entirely. So if weres are real, maybe Taz..."
"Lilith Diane Maxwell, don't you even think about finishing that thought. Taz is a Good Walker, a Benandanti not a Melandanti. We aren't like the Trickster. We don't walk between good and evil. We choose sides. Taz is on our side, otherwise, the Foundation would have dealt with her years ago."
It was my turn to stare at Rose. "The Foundation would have dealt with me? Are you telling me they have assassins, too?"
She shook her head. "It's only a rumor actually. But I've heard of a Benandanti Spirit Hunter. It is the hunter's duty to take out the Melandanti. In a perfect world, the Luparii should only go after them as well, and then we could all be on the same team. Unfortunately, the Luparii sees anyone who can change form as evil."
"Melandanti," I tried out the word. "If we are the good walkers, I take it they are the bad walkers?"
Rose nodded. "In Star Wars terms, the Benandanti would be as Obi One and the Melandanti as Darth Vader. A Benandanti Jedi that chose to follow the dark path."
Lilith broke in at this point. "So now a dark ex-Jedi knight Melandanti werewolf is killing people in Owen County? What's next? Is Han Solo going to swoop down in his Millennium Falcon and rescue us?"
I sighed, dreaming for a moment. Always did have a crush on Han Solo. Indiana Jones, too, for that matter. I could really use either one of them right about now.
Lilith stomped from the room and down the short hallway to her bedroom. I jumped as her door slammed shut.
"She's not doing real good with the whole suspension of disbelief thing," I commented.
"I know," Rose agreed. "But she only has a few days left to disbelieve. It will all be real enough come Friday night."
"When was she born?" Our first changes always happened to the minute of our birth, sixteen years to the day later.
"Nine o'five pm. I'll have the basement ready by then, so she can change in safety and comfort. I'm hoping it will make it a little less traumatic."
"Good luck with that. If you haven't already, you'll need to lead her through the steps on changing back. Otherwise, she'll be stuck until she falls asleep." A sleeping were always reverted to their skin form. The body resets itself automatically if the mind isn't awake to stop it.
"I've told her. Even written it out for her, but I don't know if she's paying attention to our talks. She really does believe we're nuts you know."
"Yeah. I guess I can't blame her for that. My mom let me see her shift, so there wasn't any doubt on my part. But with our trust issue..."
Rose smiled. "Nice try, but you'll find out Friday night along with Lilith."
You can't blame a girl for trying. Surely it couldn't be as bad as what I was imagining.
That was, of course, before I realized just how much my imagination had underestimated the craftiness of Rose Waters.
Chapter 13
With a confirmed wolf kill in Owen county, we knew the Luparii would be on its way. Possibly already there. Rose had tried to get me to agree to stay with them, but I couldn't bring that danger to them. After all, if the Luparii had killed my family for being Benandanti, they knew about me. Including where to find me. Which didn't exactly fill me with a
warm, fuzzy feeling.
I tried to make my house as safe as possible and installed a second doggie door in the back wall past my bed. That done, I got out my dry erase memo board, propped it on my bedside nightstand and made out my to do list. Rose and I had divided the work to try to identify the Luparii before they got to me. I drew most of the legwork, and she—being a computer whiz—took the online hacking and researching.
Number one on my list: Find the Assassin. Call and visit Spencer's Motel and the Park's Inn and get the names of new guests and pending reservations for Rose to verify.
Number two: Find the killer. Spend as much time as possible with Rebel in the Park and Forestry to try to sniff out the wolf-not-wolf. Also, try to sniff as many people as possible for that odd half scent I'd caught.
Number three: Finish the wolf statue so I could get paid. I still had bills to pay and a wolf's got to eat regularly or things get hairy. Literally.
Number four: Have sex. After all, all work and no foreplay...
Number five: Buy a birthday present for Lilith and attend 16th birthday event.
Okay. Only five things on my list. Sounded doable. I'd just start with number one and work my way down the list for the weekend festivities.
I dressed up in my best work outfit of khaki slacks—actually ironed and everything—a black turtleneck sweater with little red roses on the neck and cuffs and my black boots. My small gold cross, a precious inheritance from my mother, completed my ensemble.
I'm a very simple gal. I started to take a change of clothes so I could hit the park when I was done at the inn but changed my mind when I realized that would mean leaving Reb by himself in the Jeep. Too many wolf-hunters out there for him to be alone. I'd have to come back for him.
Luckily. I had gone to school with Mindy, the day clerk at the Spencer Motel, so I decided to tackle the easiest one first. Pulling into a parking space out front, I checked my reflection in the mirror. For once, my hair actually looked decent, laying just the way I liked it. Wavy but not spiked. Once I parked, I put on a little red lipstick—the extent of my mobile makeup parlor—and got out.
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