Except it’s the daytime, dummy. Herb’s sleeping.
Hastening to avoid a replay of their first encounter, he grabbed Aletia’s arm and whispered urgently, “Just give me a second to explain.”
The momentary warmth he’d felt walking in from the cool October air froze under the hunter’s icy stare, but she held her tongue. Walking her over to a booth as far from the other patrons as possible, he sat and studiously picked up a menu.
“One,” Aletia said, voice edged with frost.
“Really? I mean, it’s good, but not a lot of food. Just eggs and hash browns. I usually go for the number three myself, unless I’m in the mood for eggs benedict,” Dallas commented, all innocence.
“No, it’s been one second. Now explain.”
Mentally slapping himself in the forehead, Dallas tried on his most disarming smile, the one he usually reserved for girls that asked when he’d last been tested for STD’s.
“I told you. Lois and I talked, and that witchy stuff was just a phase. I set her straight, and we’re all good. No need to make a scene.”
Aletia looked less than convinced but didn’t challenge him. Heaving a huge mental sigh, Dallas tried to figure out what to do. Colton hadn’t popped up yet, but he had to be in town. To make matters worse, there was a big, full moon on deck to ruin his charade. But did it really have to be a charade? There was no denying that he and Aletia had something. Maybe if he just talked to her, told her the truth, she’d understand. It had worked for Herb and Lois in a weird kind of way, hadn’t it?
It’s not like I’m always a werewolf. Just a few days a month. No reason for that to spoil a good thing, right?
Before he could put any more thought into the matter, Lois arrived at their table.
“Hi Dallas, and um. Dallas’s friend. I don’t think we were properly introduced the first time we met. I’m Lois,” she offered, holding her order pad and wearing a smile that almost masked her panic, but not quite.
“Aletia,” the hunter said with a thinly painted smile of her own. “Dallas said you two talked over a few things after we... met. I’m glad to hear you’ve moved past your experimental phase.”
Lois laughed a high, brittle laugh. “Oh. Right. Yeah. Gosh, I just feel so silly about the whole thing. Dallas, though. He’s such a great guy. Really helped.”
Gulping, Lois tapped her pen nervously on her notepad. “So, um. You two ready to order?”
While Aletia dictated her order in a tone crispier than burnt hash browns, Dallas tried to ignore the gallon of water under each armpit. He also tried to ignore his hunger. Over the past few weeks, he’d been consuming a staggering amount of food. Now, sitting in Ronnie’s with the smell of meat all around him, the unnaturalness of his hunger became glaringly apparent. He didn’t want the number three or the eggs benedict. He wanted everything on the menu.
“Dallas?” Lois asked.
“Oh, yeah. Me. Um.”
Better keep it light. Restraint, old boy. Show some restraint, and you’ll get through this just fine.
“I’ll get the ham and eggs, steak and eggs, both with hash browns and white toast nice and soggy, a side of sausage links, and a short stack of pancakes. And, um. Bacon. Two sides,” he rattled off.
Aletia and Lois just stared. Realizing his definition of ‘light’ might be a bit heavier than it should be, he buried his face in the menu to hide his blush.
“Hungry,” he managed by way of explanation.
After Lois had walked off to place their orders, Aletia raised an eyebrow.
“Guess you worked up an appetite this morning,” she commented coyly. “You okay with me taking credit for that?”
Relief flooding through him, he grabbed the offered life preserver and winked.
“Absolutely. You certainly know how to help a guy burn calories.”
While waiting for their food, Aletia talked a bit about their trek north following the Sasquatch. Dallas peppered in questions about whether or not Canadians always ate their French fries with gravy and if she was going to start ending all of her questions with ‘eh.’ The tension that had thickened the air when they first arrived slowly eased, and Dallas let himself believe, if just for a moment, that there was nothing to worry about. It was a short-lived fantasy though. When their food arrived, Aletia grabbed Lois’s wrist as she set down a plate.
“Do I need to worry about what’s in this?” she snapped, glaring up at Lois.
Lois yanked her hand back and huffed. Using Dallas’s fork, she speared a hunk of eggs off of Aletia’s plate, stuffed it in her mouth, and chewed pointedly.
“One-hundred percent spell-free eggs. Enjoy your breakfast,” she shot back before stomping off to the kitchen.
“Was that really necessary?” Dallas asked. “I said there was nothing to worry about.”
Aletia grimaced uncomfortably. “Lo siento, Dallas. What can I say? I have trust issues.” She took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. “At least the food is good here.”
Chapter 38
Back at Dallas’s place, the two relaxed on the couch. Aletia patted her stomach appreciatively and groaned with pleasure.
“That really was a good breakfast,” she sighed. “Sometimes, we end up in towns where the best thing to eat is the leather belt you brought with. Not Ronnie’s though. I can see why it’s famous. Yummy and filling.” Poking Dallas in the stomach, she added, “Por Dios, you must be stuffed. Even Colton doesn’t eat that much.”
“Oh, yeah. Well, man’s gotta eat and um, yeah. I’m fit to burst,” he laughed, inwardly praying that he’d get a chance to grab some more food when she wasn’t looking. “Speaking of Colton, where’s he at? If you’re here, he can’t be far behind, right?”
“Poking around town. He was going to try and track down Randall. We didn’t get a chance to teach you everything, but Society members have a sort of secret code. We’re pretty good about leaving info and clues for other hunters. If Randall came this way, Colton will turn up sign of him soon enough. We’re going to rendezvous at the cabin later tonight. Plenty of time for us to enjoy ourselves until then. That is, if you’re not too full,” she offered, stretching her legs across his lap.
Dallas wasn’t too full by any stretch of the imagination, and he wanted to enjoy himself. He really, really did. Unfortunately, he also really wanted to come clean. He’d tell her he was a werewolf, that it happened by accident, and that it was only for a few days a month. Otherwise, he was completely human. No big deal, right? She’d understand, and everything would be okay.
“Aletia,” he started after rubbing his sweaty palms on his pants. “We should probably, you know. Talk about a few things.”
She sighed, nodding her head.
“Yeah, you’re right. I can’t put it off forever. Grab me a beer, and I’ll tell you why I joined the Society.”
While it wasn’t exactly the topic Dallas had in mind, he figured it’d be a good place to start. When Dallas returned with the beer, Aletia wasn’t nearly as relaxed as she’d been a minute before. Instead of stretching languidly across the cushions, she sat up straight, feet firmly planted on the floor and hands on her thighs. Taking the beer, she took a long, introspective drink and began her story.
“I grew up in southern Mexico but moved to Oregon when I was thirteen. Papa was a professor, and he’d accepted a position teaching international studies at Southern Oregon University. I was sixteen years old when he ended up in the hospital. The doctors told mom it was a dog bite or maybe a coyote. He’d been teaching a night course and was attacked in the parking lot after class. A couple of his students found him and called an ambulance. The entire way to the hospital, Papa was raving, completamente loco. First he swore he’d been attacked by a giant wolf. Then he said it was just a really hairy crazy guy. The doctors doped him up with sedatives, but they weren’t working. He was still raving when we got there. I remember watching him and thinking it was the scariest thing in the world. I hadn’t seen anything yet.”
Ale
tia took another drink of beer, giving Dallas’s whirling mind a second to catch up.
Her dad was bit by a werewolf? What are the frickin’ odds?
He didn’t have much time to ponder the implications though, because Aletia wasn’t done.
“Papa spent one night in the hospital. Just one. The next morning, Mama and I showed up, and he was fine. Completely, totally fine. The bite that a night before looked like it was bare centimeters from ripping his arm off at the elbow was just a lightly puckered scar. His mania was gone, and he was cool as a cucumber. When Mama asked him about being attacked, he shrugged and said he really couldn’t remember the details that well and that the doctors were probably right. Just a dog. Maybe a coyote. He didn’t have rabies, and since his wound wasn’t as bad as they thought...”
For a moment, Aletia stared at her beer can. A sharp laugh escaped her lips.
“Wasn’t as bad. Increíble. That was the understatement of the century, but I was the only one that seemed concerned about that point. He was discharged, and we all went home. About a month later, I was making out with my boyfriend Jason in the back of his Pontiac and starting to freak out about being out past curfew. It was such a beautiful night though. Completamente romántica, with a full moon and everything. Eventually, I convinced him that I really should go home. When we got to my house, we found the parts of Mama that Papa hadn’t eaten. I was holding Mama’s head in my hands when Papa attacked. Jason managed to fight Papa off, and we ran. The local high school was nearby, so we hid in the equipment shed.”
Aletia sighed and sat quietly. Dallas was about to ask what happened next when she took a deliberate breath, shook her head, and continued.
“Jason showed me the bite on his shoulder, and I did the best I could to clean it and bandage it. He raved and ranted all night. The next day, he was fine. That night, when the full moon rose again, I was ready. I cut off his head with a gas-powered hedge trimmer and then hunted down Papa. It was a hard fight, but I won.”
Aletia’s eyes stared hard at the floor. “I killed them. When I was sixteen years old, I killed my boyfriend and my father with a hedge trimmer.”
Aletia finished her beer and set the can carefully on the coffee table.
“Need another?” Dallas asked quietly.
Aletia shook her head as a yawn stretched her full lips in a wide ‘O.’
“No. I can barely keep my eyes open.”
Fidgeting, Dallas asked, “So what did you do? After your dad, I mean.” Seeing tears well up in her eyes, he backpedaled. “Never mind, it doesn’t matter.”
Wiping ineffectually at the tears, she sighed.
“It’s okay. I promised you the story, so you’re getting the whole story. To answer your question, I ran. Since I had nowhere to go, I came back. I knew that no one would believe that Papa and Jason were werewolves, so I hid. For close to a month, I slept huddled in alleyways, ate out of dumpsters, and tried to find the courage to kill myself. It was just dumb luck that the Society had sent a new hunter to investigate the possible werewolf attacks. Even luckier that Colton found me, ragged and half-mad, and had the heart and the patience to clean me up and straighten me out.”
Another yawn pulled her out of her story for a moment. Dallas took advantage of the ensuing quiet to give a slow whistle.
“Aletia, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like.”
She looked up and wiped ineffectively at the tear tracks streaking down her cheeks.
“I think you can, mi amor.” She placed a hand on his cheek. At first, he thought he was feeling the tears on her fingers. As her thumb stroked his skin, he realized she was pushing away his own.
Hand sliding down his face, her arm fell back to her side. Confused, Dallas watched her eyelids droop and close. She settled back heavily into the couch cushions, and her chin dropped down toward her chest. A moment passed, and she was sound asleep.
“Aletia?” he asked, gently shaking her arm. “Hey Tia? You okay?”
“Geez. That took long enough,” a familiar voice said, scaring the crap out of Dallas.
Leaping from the couch, he spun to see Lois’s face poking in through the front door.
“I lied about the eggs,” she explained with a shrug.
Stomping over, he yanked the door open and loomed over Lois.
“You cast a spell on her? Balls on a badger! Why in the hell would you cast a spell on her?”
In response, Lois shoved a finger into his chest.
“Why in the hell would you bring your murdering girlfriend to Ronnie’s? Why in the hell would you bring her anywhere? Why in the hell aren’t you doing everything in your power to get her out of here? Or warning me and Herb so we can get the hell out of here?”
“I was going to tell her the truth,” he sputtered in response to her fury. “About me. I think she’ll understand. Like you and Herb, you know? Me and Tia, maybe we can work it out.”
For the second time in as many minutes, an unexpected voice scared the crap out of Dallas.
“No. You won’t,” Colton said, and then everything went dark.
Chapter 39
Dallas came to and was instantly annoyed.
What good is having super hearing if these guys can keep sneaking up on me?
Wits coalescing around that particular thought, he decided to give himself a pass. He had been thoroughly distracted by Lois’s arrival and not really paying attention to much else.
Lois! Oh crappers, did he get Lois, too?
Turning his head, he was overcome with nausea and suddenly gave back most of his breakfast. Long after the contents of his stomach had been artlessly deposited on the floor beside him, Dallas continued to dry heave.
“Hang in there, Dallas,” he heard Lois say, her voice as raw as his throat felt. “I think it’s a side effect of whatever he used to knock us out. It should pass in a minute or two.”
Thank god she’s okay, he thought. Except she’s here, which means she’s probably not gonna be okay.
Opening his eyes again, he saw Lois bound and slumped against a nearby wall. At least she still had her clothes on. Dallas wasn’t so lucky. He’d been stripped down to his boxers. A quick look around confirmed what he’d already smelled. They were in the cabin in the woods. Colton and Aletia were nowhere to be seen. Just him and Lois, tied in heavy coils of sturdy rope.
“Feels like a class-five hangover. Lucky for me, I’ve had worse. Gimme a sec, and I’ll be right as rain,” Dallas grumbled. Taking a series of deep breaths, he shoved his brain into ya gotta work even if you’d rather curl up and die mode.
“Okay. I’m good,” he said after a throaty belch. “What happened back there? How’d he get the drop on us, and why am I in my birthday suit?”
Lois shrugged or at least tried to. Her restraints didn’t leave a lot for freedom of movement.
“Your buddy Colton is a professional monster hunter. Guess he had a few tricks up his sleeve we weren’t expecting. As for the you being almost naked part, I have no idea. I’d ask him, but they took off about fifteen minutes ago in his truck. God, I really hope Stanley and Herb are okay.”
Dallas groaned. Nothing, not a single thing, was going as planned. It really pissed him off, even though there wasn’t much of a plan to begin with. Shifting his posture, he started to flex against the ropes.
“Well, nothing to worry about. Big D is here, and we know from recent experience that a few ropes aren’t a problem. Colton might think he knows what’s what, but he doesn’t know jack about old Dallas.”
Squirming and flexing, Dallas let himself get caught up in his building rant. It felt good to finally have an outlet for the simmering rage.
“What Colton didn’t bank on was that nothing, nothing can keep this wolf down. Not a sneak attack or a sucker punch or taking my clothes and sure as badger shit not a bunch of ro… aaaaaaAAAAARRRRGGHH!”
The pain scorched deep across his skin, and caused him to contort and flop over on his side. Unfortunatel
y, that just made things worse. It was like someone had set the ropes on fire. Gasping in shock, he tried to figure out just what the hell was happening.
“Dallas! Stop! There’s a padlocked silver chain wound in with your ropes. I can see it now. You must’ve pushed it up against your skin. Try to stop moving. See if you can get the ropes between you and the silver again,” she advised.
He heard her, but it was really hard to concentrate on her words. The pain scoring his arms and chest turned his brain into a whimpering pile of jelly. Flopping like a beached bluegill, he twisted and shook, every movement a dance of agony.
Calm down! Get a hold of yourself, he thought frantically. By sheer force of will, he stilled his spasms and tremors until he lay completely still. He could feel each link of silver burning into his flesh, but by opening himself up to the pain, he was able to accept it and move past it. After a few deep, controlled breaths, the burning felt more like nuked Cheez Whiz on his skin instead of molten lava. Moving gingerly, he shifted his center of gravity and pushed himself back into a sitting position. Once upright, he started to shrug his shoulders and wiggle his arms. As he’d hoped, the silver chain wasn’t bound tight like the ropes. They must’ve figured the pain of contact with his skin would be enough to keep him in line.
Damn near did, too, except that I’m a frickin’ badass, he thought, his grimace becoming a rictus grin.
As he shifted and hitched his shoulders, the looser links of silver slipped over the coils of rope. When the various sections left his skin, the burning sensation abruptly stopped. After a minute or so, Dallas felt less like a flame broiled Whopper and more like a really pissed off guy tied up and dumped in a busted down cabin in the woods.
“Aaaahhhh,” he sighed in relief. “Better. Much better, except I don’t think I’ll be busting the ropes anytime soon. Sorry, but our escape plan now hinges exclusively on you. Time to do something witchy!”
“Can’t,” Lois replied, tersely.
“Whadaya mean? Don’t you have, I don’t know, like a, ‘Tony Danza was the boss, turn these ropes to dental floss,’ spell or something?”
Monsters in the Midwest (Book 2): Northwoods Wolfman Page 23
