Ghost Stalker

by Jenna Kernan

  Bess smiled. “Goodbye, Niyanoka. Perhaps it is best, for you don’t deserve him. Take comfort in the knowledge that no woman before you has ever brought that one to heel. He has always been and ever will be wild.”

  With that she lifted her arms and transformed into a sleek black bird.

  She flapped into the air and then turned, hovering at eye level.

  “Keep him safe or answer to me,” croaked the bird.

  The raven flapped her great wings and lifted into the air, rapidly disappearing in the twilight sky.

  Jessie didn’t know what shocked her more, the warning or hearing it from a talking bird.

  Far to the north and west, many days’ travel, even as the crow flies, Michaela nestled beside her two tiny infants.

  Her body ached, her head pounded and she felt thirsty and weak. Yet she had succeeded in bringing her babies into the world. Sebastian pressed a cool cloth to her forehead and she smiled up at him.

  Behind him, Virginia Thistleback, the wise old Inanoka swan, bustled about in human form, removing the soiled bedding and then readying the bassinets.

  She returned to Michaela’s side and extended her arms. Even at nearly three hundred, the woman was strong and as hearty as an oak. Her hair was white as the feathers that covered her in her animal state, but Michaela wondered if her hair might always have been that color.

  “Time for you to rest,” said Thistleback.

  She hesitated, not wanting to give up her babes so soon. After a fifteen-hour struggle she was exhausted, but her instinct was to keep them close.

  “For pity’s sake, look at your poor husband. He’s half dead on his feet. Give me the babies so he can lie down.”

  Michaela glanced at Sebastian and noted the deep circles under his eyes. He looked dreadful.

  “If you’re lucky, you’ll have two hours before they’ll want feeding. They’re asleep. Quickly now, you sleep, too.”

  Michaela carefully lifted her son and firstborn into her midwife’s hands.

  “Careful, now,” Michaela cautioned and received a scornful glance from Thistleback.

  “Raised who knows how many chicks myself, and helped with the chicks orphaned by those blasted arctic foxes. He’s less fragile than an egg, I’d wager.” Despite her harsh words, she cradled the infant tenderly and with an experience that made Michaela slightly envious.

  This was all so new to her and she worried that she would not be up to the task of mothering twins. Not just any twins, but the firstborn of the Inanoka and Niyanoka races. She was actually relieved to see they looked human, which had made Sebastian laugh. Apparently, all Inanoka were born in human form.

  Thistleback returned a moment later for their daughter, scooping her up and carrying her off. “I’m putting them in the same basket for now, since they’re such tiny little things.”

  “Thank you,” murmured Michaela. She was grateful for the woman’s wisdom, experience and for the gracious way she had opened her home to them at their time of need.

  Skinwalkers were such kindhearted people, despite their fierceness and violent reputations. Her people were so wrong about them.

  Sebastian crawled in beside her, and she inched over, feeling the muscles of her legs and the sensitive tissues inside her all cry out in protest.

  “When they wake up, send the bear for them. Never too soon to get accustomed to holding them. And you—” she pointed at Michaela “—are to stay in bed, unless you need to use the privy. Understand?”

  Michaela nodded.

  “Call if you need me. Like all swans, I sleep lightly.” She clicked the door behind her, leaving them alone for the first time since before the contractions began.

  Michaela turned to find Sebastian propped up on one elbow, gazing down at her with a look of adoration that made her heart catch in her chest.

  “How do you feel?” he asked.

  As if she’d just birthed a camel—with two humps—was what she wanted to say, but he seemed so excited and exhausted and caring. She thought him just dear.

  Funny, for he was a massive man and a formidable grizzly bear when in animal form. He could make man or beast turn tail and run just by rearing on his hind legs.

  But to her, he was everything, so she lied.

  “I feel wonderful.”

  He rested a hand on her arm and squeezed her tenderly. “You did well, little mother.”

  She smiled at that, exhaustion taking hold. She lifted her chin and he kissed her on the lips.

  “Do you think they will be Seers?” she asked.

  Sebastian gazed into his wife’s lovely worried eyes and answered the question she was really asking. If they were Seers like their mother, then Nagi would want them dead.

  “I’ll keep them safe, love. I’ll protect them and you, even from him.”

  She smiled and nestled against him, confident in her husband, but it was a long time before sleep found Sebastian. He believed his wife’s dream. Nick had been attacked. He worried about his friend. He wanted to go to him and heal his injuries. But to do so meant leaving his family unprotected. His instincts warred with his loyalty.

  The Ruler of the Circle of Ghosts wanted his wife and children dead. And now he was attacking his friends to get to them.

  For the first time in his life, Sebastian felt powerless.

  Chapter 13

  Jessie spent the remainder of the night sleeping in the chair beside Nick. She did not dare leave him alone after the strange appearance of the raven.

  She slept fitfully, waking at last with relief to see that dawn had cast the sky in pale pink.

  She stood and tried unsuccessfully to roll the kink out of her neck before creeping to Nick’s bed. She rested a hand on his forehead, troubled by the warmth that told her he had a low fever, but more troubled by the fact that he did not stir. She had not been able to get near him yesterday without him rousing.

  This change troubled her deeply.

  He needed the antibiotics. She left his side to retrieve them, determined to quickly throw some hay to the horses and then return to her patient.

  She was halfway across the room when she recalled the details of her conversation with last night’s visitor. If she didn’t know better, she’d say it was a bad dream. Much of what had happened to her lately fell into that category. But a Dream Walker always knew reality from the creations of the mind. The raven could not be dismissed as some vision. She had been here and had so much as told her that she and Nicholas were lovers, then made a crack about Jessie lacking courage.

  “Well, why should I care what she said?” she muttered.

  But she did. The magnitude by which she did care rattled her as much as the realization that the raven was correct: she was wildly attracted to Nick.

  “But that’s not love. It’s lust.” She flicked on the kitchen light and stooped to tug on her high rubber boots. “I’m not made of stone. He’s attractive, available. It’s only natural.”

  Jessie was not a prude. In her early adulthood, she had taken a variety of human lovers, which was relatively common for her kind. She had tried and failed to meet a fellow Niyanoka who was willing to live in so isolated a place. Most of her people preferred cities or larger urban centers than the country road she currently called home. But no one she knew had ever even spoken to a Skinwalker. There was no question that she tread upon extremely dangerous ground.

  Before she reached the front door, her cell phone, which sat on the counter, began to vibrate and flash. She lifted the thing, forcing her eyes open enough to read the display: Larry Karr.

  Her neighbor, who could see her kitchen windows from his upstairs. She sighed and flipped open the phone.

  “Hi, Larry.”

  “Saw your light. How’s the wolf.”

  “Fine. No problems,” she lied.

  “Need any help with him?”

  The thoughtfulness of her neighbors, which had always reinforced her belief in the goodness of humanity had suddenly become a real pain in the a
ss.

  “I got him out in the barn.”

  She heard him chuckle.

  “Bet the horses love that.”

  “Just for a few days. Then I’ll let him go.”

  “Thought you said he was a pet.”

  “Yeah, let him go back to his owners, I mean. They’re coming to get him. I’m petsitting.”

  “Jessie, you really okay?”

  “Sure, Larry.”

  “My nephew works for the ambulance corp. He said they found an injured man on your property after that storm. Said he refused treatment.”

  “That’s right. His wife came and got him. No insurance, you see.”

  “Ah. Well, you had a busy day.”

  “Thanks for checking, Larry. Give my best to May and the girls.”

  “Okay, I…”

  Jessie closed the phone, turned it off and placed it back on the counter, then headed out the door. She paused on the steps, as she always did, to glance out of the window at the pasture across the road.

  It was her custom to see what her mares were doing. At this hour, they usually lined the fence, staring hopefully at the house in preparation for her arrival with breakfast hay. But today they stood herded together at the far corner of the pasture, tossing their heads with restless glances toward the barn.

  Jessie wrinkled her brow and turned in the direction of their nervous glances.

  Her grip on the doorknob slackened and she leaned forward in her double take.

  There, beside her barbed-wire fence, grazed a massive male buffalo. “Oh, what now?”

  She headed for the gun closet and retrieved a high-power rifle, then loaded it, recalling that last night she’d nearly used the same bullets on Nicholas Chien.

  She left the house with the intention of getting her mares into the barn before calling the national park to see if they were missing a bull.

  But buffalo didn’t generally just wander away from the herd. Maybe it was a sick animal or a young bull chased off by a stronger male. She crept off the porch, eyeing it critically. The beast looked healthy, strong, as big as a minivan and about as bright.

  Jessie inched forward slowly, edging behind her truck, and then hesitated. She’d have to cross the road, without cover.

  The buffalo lifted his head and seemed to be staring directly at her.

  She ducked behind her truck, clutching her rifle before her as she pointed the barrel toward the brightening sky. A moment later she heard hooves striking the pavement.

  “Son of a…” She peeked over the flatbed to see the monster making a beeline for her. “Bitch!”

  She raised the rifle, using the truck bed to steady her aim. The buffalo stopped. She stared down the sight, lining up the bead and notch just behind the creature’s shoulder blade. But the dust surrounding the thick hide obscured her shot. The dust hung about the bull a good ten inches above its hump. She squinted in the first rays of sunlight as another possibility occurred to her.

  Auras were hard to see at the best of times, but at sunrise they were nearly impossible to spot. Still, that did look like an aura.

  She lifted her head and lowered the rifle. She could still take her shot, but it wouldn’t hurt to check.

  Jessie drew a breath and lifted her chin.

  “Are you here to see Nicholas?”

  The bull pawed at the blacktop. Why didn’t one of those semis show up when she needed it?

  She felt silly shouting at a buffalo. “The Skinwalker? He’s inside.”

  The buffalo turned from her and headed toward her house. She ran behind the truck, shouting as she went.

  “Wait. You can’t go in there like that. Please change forms first.”

  The bull swung its massive head in her direction, causing her to stagger back. There was a puff of dust as the male transformed into a young Native American, wrapped in a buffalo robe. An instant later, he stood in worn jeans, dusty work boots and a fringed leather shirt that made him look like some kind of reenactor at the annual rendezvous. He beat at his shirt, raising a cloud of dust.

  Jessie prayed to the Great Spirit that her neighbor was not still standing in his upstairs window. “Been a while since I walked as a man,” he said by way of apology. “How did you know?”

  She flipped the safety to the on position. “I’m Jessie.”

  “Tuff,” he said and lifted a foot to rest on the first step of her stairs. “Tuff Jackson. Actually Jackson is just where I come from. Don’t know my real surname. Long story.”

  “Can I help you?”

  “I’m here to help him.” He thumbed toward the door. “Heard his call for help.”

  “Do you know him?”

  The man wore his thick black hair in traditional twin braids, secured with leather sheaths made of short brown fur.

  “Never had the pleasure. I can tell from the scent he’s a wolf. Don’t hang around wolves as a rule.”

  She and Tuff exchanged a smile.

  “Understandable.”

  He paused, pointed a thumb at her kitchen door. “Your place?”

  “Yeah.” She rounded the truck and offered her hand, shocked at herself for welcoming him. “Thanks for coming.”

  She headed up the steps and held the door open. He stepped past her. She thought a buffalo shifter would be big and burly, like a professional wrestler. But this man was slight and young, seeming only in his early teens. Of course, he could be eighty for all she knew. Inanoka lived even longer than her people.

  The buffalo man paused in her kitchen, looking around. “Nice place.” He focused on her now. “How’d you know what I was?”

  “I’m a Spirit Child.”

  His eyes rounded. “Ah. Never met one before.” He looked her over. “What’s your gift?”

  “I’m a Dream Walker.”

  “Have you tried healing him in his sleep?”

  She flushed at the reminder of what she had done. “Not exactly.”

  “You could, you know. Just the suggestion would at the very least greatly ease his pain.”

  “I’ve never done that. I deal mainly with injuries to the mind.”

  “But your power is greater than that.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I can sense power, energy flows. Yours is great. But in the meantime, I’ll try.”

  Jessie took a long look at Tuff. Now inside, his aura became clearer. Healers usually had a deep blue energy to them. His seemed more the color of rust. She paused before leading him to her patient, feeling protective of Nick. “Are you a Healer?”

  “Not exactly.”

  She felt off balance and unsure of allowing a stranger near Nick. Jessie could not understand why she hesitated. She should be happy to have another Skinwalker offer assistance. Perhaps he could release her from her promise and spare them both from this strange attraction.

  But until that happened, she had promised to see him well and would see it through.

  “How do you pick up his call?”

  “It’s a disturbance, like a dust storm, but inside your mind. You have to concentrate to get the direction and then you just follow it. It can travel a few hundred miles, unless you know each other, then, I don’t know, farther, I think.”

  Nick had told her he had no one, yet here was another who could help. Who else had he called?

  Tuff inclined his head toward Nick’s room, silently asking entrance.

  She drew a breath to gather her resolve, putting the rifle on the counter, and then led the way. She paused just inside the doorway of her study, gazing at Nicholas and checking his steady, even draw of breath. The sight reassured her. He still rested comfortably. When he was awake, his breathing was shallow and his face strained. He had slept long into the morning. She glanced at the open bottle of painkillers beside his bed. How many had he taken?

  She took a step toward him, but Tuff passed her, drawing up a chair beside him.

  “What are his injuries?”

  She told him.

  “What happened to
him?”

  She sighed, sat on the corner of the desk and began the telling. His eyes widened at her mention of the three ghosts and he looked perplexed when she told of the couple Nick said he protected.

  “And you say this couple, they are an Inanoka and Niyanoka?”

  She nodded. “That is what I have been told.”

  “The world is full of wonders. I do not think it is impossible.”

  Tuff looked down at Nicholas. He didn’t look tough, not in the form of a man at least. He didn’t seem insightful like Bess or charming like Nick. He just seemed serious as he stared at Nicholas.

  She knew buffalo were sacred, that the Great Mystery had brought buffalo to man so they would have all they needed to live. They were selfless creatures to submit to death so the people might live. Animals of sacrifice.

  But she wondered what held he could give do Nick. Perhaps he would act as a watchdog, protecting him from future attacks while he healed.

  Certainly he would be a formidable opponent in animal form.

  Nicholas could track anyone anywhere just by their scent. According to Nicholas, his friend the grizzly could heal any natural injury. What was the raven’s power? Something to do with the Spirit World, she’d guess. Could she see the future? And what were the powers of the buffalo?

  Her musing had taken her mind far afield and so she had not noticed that Tuff was chanting a prayer. She sat quietly until he finished.

  “Could you get me some water, please?”

  “I have coffee.”

  “No, just water. A tall glass, please.”

  She left him for the time it took to fill her largest glass. When she reentered the room, she found the man kneeling with his hands stretched toward the ceiling, praying again. His shirt, shoes and belt were gone, leaving him dressed only in his jeans. His body was narrow, hairless and slim. If she were to pick an animal he most resembled, she might say a weasel or coyote. She stared at the hollow beneath his ribs. About his neck hung a single buffalo tooth, wrapped in a band of colorful seed beads fashioned to resemble the hoof prints of a buffalo in white on a green background. The leather cord had several larger beads evenly spaced along the necklace. It thumped rhythmically against his chest as he rocked forward and backward with his prayer.