“Take your time. Focus. She had to leave a trail.”
Aaaaaaaaghhhhh!
Dana and I both jumped at the distant sound of a woman screaming. It echoed through the forest once and then was immediately followed by another yell. I was almost positive it was Priscilla. My instinct was to run and help her, but I didn’t want to leave this spot and risk losing any trail of Cora. Even if it was faint.
“What was that?” Dana asked as she rose to her feet. “Is that…?”
“Shit,” I grumbled. Priscilla was in danger, I knew it. I reached into my back pocket for my cell to call and check in on her and Daggett, but before I could even dial, I saw there was no signal. “Fuck,” I said under my breath.
“What’s going on?” I don’t think Dana was asking me specifically, but the universe. We knew that scream wasn’t good, and we knew Priscilla and Daggett were out there with no real defense.
Cora’s scent felt fragile and easily lost and I didn’t want to leave it behind, but fuck, no way was I letting something happen to them. “We gotta go back,” I said as I stuffed my phone back into my pocket.
“We’ll lose her smell,” Dana said with a shaky voice. “I’m so close to picking up something concrete, I know it.” She and I were on the same wavelength but, unfortunately, it didn’t matter. Lives were in danger.
I hated to say it but did so anyway. “We’ll come back. We’ll start over.”
With determination, she shook her head. “No. You go and find out what’s happening, I’ll stay here.”
“Are you nuts? No. I’m not leaving you here.”
“This might be our only shot of finding her.”
“Dana.”
“I can protect myself, Max. You know this. Just go.”
I danced back and forth in place, torn on what to do. If Priscilla’s screams were a false alarm, I was leaving Dana out in the middle of the woods to be preyed on by whatever was lurking in the shadows. It didn’t matter how abandoned Lunar City looked, I knew there were beasts still inhabiting it. They only got better at hiding.
I had no choice, though. Between the two, Priscilla was the one who needed me more. It was easy to forget that underneath the shy, small frame of Dana’s that a beast could be unleashed at any moment. She didn’t need me.
“I’ll come back for you,” I told her as I dashed away and never looked back. I ran as quickly as I could through the forest, letting the twigs, the snow, and the freezing air beat me in the face as I took off. I could see the lights of the gas station in the distance, but I saw no commotion. I started to fear that whatever caused Priscilla’s screams of terror had now finished the job. God knows that’s probably the only way to silence her.
By the time I reached the hill leading up to the gas station, I was already out of breath. My lungs felt encased in ice, and every breath I took rattled and hurt. It was a lot colder than I realized.
I walked to the gas station parking lot and saw my car still parked in front of one of the pumps. I narrowed my eyes to focus in on what was in front of me and immediately saw that someone was sitting with their legs crossed beneath them on top of the hood. It was Priscilla. She looked safe and unharmed, but she was rocking back and forth and smoking a cigarette.
“What the hell happened?” I asked. “Where’s Daggett?”
“Inside,” she answered and puffed on the cigarette in her grasp, her hands shaking violently as she held onto the stick.
I came closer to her, putting my hands on the ice-cold rim of the hood. She had her feet propped up on the bumper, and her legs were bouncing up and down uncontrollably. Something was horribly wrong. “What’s going on? You look like you’re gonna throw up.”
“Oh, I already did that.” She took another puff and then blew a cloud of smoke into my face. It was unintentional. I hope.
Daggett came bursting out of the gas station, and when he saw me, he stopped dead in his tracks. “Max,” he said and with a white face, he pressed his hand to his chest. “You scared the crap out of me.”
I threw my hands up. “What the hell is going on?” I heard hollering just minutes ago, but neither were willing to open their mouths and tell me what the hell was going on.
“There’s a body,” Priscilla’s shaky voice spoke up.
I looked at her. “A body? What do you mean a body?”
“Someone killed the cashier,” Daggett answered. I knew something had caused all the screaming, but I don’t think I was prepared for him to say this. “We came back here to wait for you two and found him dead in the bathroom. He was leaking all over the floor, man. I think a werewolf got to him.” Daggett peeked over my shoulder and said, “Where’s Dana?”
“She’s fine,” I answered quickly. I wanted to stay on the topic. “Where’s the body?”
“I put it back in the bathroom.”
I threw my head back and groaned. “You touched it?”
“Was that not the right thing to do?”
“Yeah, if you want your DNA all over the scene,” I replied and then went storming past him and into the gas station. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe them about the body, I just needed to see it for myself.
As soon as I walked through the glass door, I gagged. Daggett didn’t even need to lead me in the right direction, because all I could smell was the body. It wasn’t quite the aroma of decay, which meant the death was recent, it was the blood. Oh, Christ, it was all I could smell.
“You find it?” Daggett asked. He was suddenly standing behind me.
I turned around and said, “You left her outside by herself?”
“She doesn’t want to come in here again.” He lowered his voice and added, “She puked twice.”
“Yeah, well, if the cashier was really murdered like you say, then she’s not safe alone. Go get her.”
Daggett groaned and left. I knew it was because it was going to be a struggle to get her to cooperate.
I followed the scent of blood to a dirty door with a restroom sign on it. I tucked my hand into my coat and used its sleeve to turn the doorknob, just in case the cops came and investigated. I didn’t need to leave fingerprints behind. The door was open only an inch and I was blasted by the fragrance of sewer water, bugs, and guts. I swallowed and hoped I didn’t lose my lunch all over the floor like Priscilla.
The body was a male in his late-thirties, and his body was twisted around the toilet floating in gallons of his own blood. I stepped closer and saw the root of all the blood were puncture wounds on the side of his neck and a couple more running down his arms. There was no doubt about it, these were bite marks. His death wasn’t caused by some random robbery gone wrong. He was eaten.
“Disgusting, huh?” Daggett appeared behind me again, and I had half a mind to punch him in the face for sneaking up on me twice in the span of a minute. “I know not everyone can control their shifts, but it’s not even a full moon. I wonder what the heck happened.”
He brought up an interesting point, there was no full moon tonight. The only time someone can change without one is if they did so willingly, or the curse was recently triggered, but even the initial triggering turns you for just a few moments and that’s not all that common. It doesn’t always happen.
I knelt so I could get a closer look at the body. The wounds on his neck were small and circular and in a pair. They were also only a few inches apart. A werewolf’s jaw was much wider than this. “You think a werewolf did this?” I asked.
Daggett shrugged. “Well, yeah. What else? We’re in Lunar City and this guy was chomped on.”
I rose to my feet. “Tell me, Daggett, how many werewolves do you know that take a tiny bite out of someone and then walk away? Their body is usually pretty destroyed, wouldn’t you say?”
“Not necessarily. I’ve seen people get killed with injuries this minor.”
“Sure, but those were during attacks, right? People are running around like crazy and the wolves are just picking people off. As far as we know, this guy was alone. There’
s no one else in the store, so why not finish him off?”
His brow lowered. “Where are you going with this?”
“Attacking someone in werewolf form comes with very little control. You’re like a rabid animal. Does this guy look like a rabid animal got to him?”
“What, you think a person did this?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just don’t see how a rabid werewolf came through the front door of the gas station, made no mess, took a few small bites out of the guy and then put him in a bathroom for no one to find.”
What I said must have clicked for Daggett because his eyes went big. “Dang, you’re right. A person did do this, didn’t they?”
I was still unsure. “We have to be on the lookout, regardless. Whoever did this is obviously fucked in the head.”
Priscilla was standing by the entrance swaying back and forth, her hand flat on the door and ready to escape any second. “Can we please get out of here before we end up like that poor fucker?” she asked. Daggett and I both looked at her. Her eyebrow raised, an epiphany hitting her. “Hey, where’s werewolf girl?”
.
Chapter Ten
DANA
Whenever I go tracking, the scent of the subject I’m searching for is usually present and vibrant. With one deep inhale, it glides through my nose canal and, in a way, feels like it’s coursing through my entire body until me and the scent feel indistinguishable. Cora’s scent, however, felt like a tickle at the rim of my nostrils, coming and going whenever it pleased. When I breathed in deep, I could smell it again, but if I wasn’t constantly doing that, it disappeared altogether. And with how cold it was outside, the entire process became miserable.
I took a step to the right, breathed in, and smelled nothing.
I took two steps to the left, breathed in again, but was once more met with nothing.
Five steps forward, and I caught something. It was faint, but it was at least an aroma. I let myself stand in place for a minute, inhaling and exhaling over and over again, my brain trying to map out the direction she could have gone. I closed my eyes and let my nose guide me, which took me in a forward motion. The smell was pitiful, but it was getting stronger.
I stood in the thick cluster of smells when I heard a ping beneath my feet. I stepped on something. I carefully opened my eyes and lifted my shoe, and beneath it was a shiny, silver item. I reached down and retrieved the object that was half-buried in the wet soil, and laid it flat in my palm so I could inspect it. It was a crescent moon necklace, and it reeked of Cora. She was here.
I smiled because I knew I was onto something. Not even the church smelled this strong of her.
The necklace was cold as ice as I placed it around my neck for safekeeping, and the closer I held it to myself, the more accustomed I’d get with her scent. I also wanted to show Max when he got back, and I knew he’d come back for me.
It was then that I realized the sun was completely gone. We weren’t even close to the evening hours, yet daylight had died.
Two twigs snapped in the distance, and I turned around to see if it was Max. The idea that he came back after being gone a few minutes would have surprised me, because no way did he resolve whatever was going on with Priscilla and Daggett that quick.
I waited for whoever was sneaking around to come closer to me, but no one showed. I wasn’t crazy; I knew someone was approaching. I sniffed, but I didn’t smell Max. I smelled no werewolf either. In fact, I didn’t even smell a human. But there was an aroma drawing near, and it was…peculiar. It sounds strange, but the scent reminded me of the flower displays at a funeral—it smells good, but all it does is remind you of death and sadness.
“Is somebody there?” I called out.
The wind howled, and I thought I heard my name in it.
I told Max I could take care of myself, but I was still nervous. I was never one for haunted houses or scary tales. Any bravery I had was protecting myself when I absolutely needed to. Things that go bump in the night was not my area.
I thought of calling out once more, but my growing fear took over and I remained silent. I didn’t want whatever was creeping around to know I was here. I just wanted to be left alone.
The flowery smell grew stronger and stronger until Cora’s scent practically vanished. Confusion didn’t cover how I was feeling. How was Cora’s scent being taken over yet again, even with the necklace around my neck, and why was I smelling anything floral outside in the dead of winter?
“Dana,” a voice hissed.
I jerked my body around expecting to see someone, but no one was there. All I could see were tall, thin, trees with their long, bare branches reaching out, and the layers of snow on the surrounding ground. Was I going crazy? Was I hearing voices?
“Dana,” a voice said again, this time breathing directly into my ear. Startled, I jumped, and flailed my arms around to protect myself. Yet again, I saw no one.
“Who’s there?” I yelled. “Who’s there?”
I knew I was being hunted, and the realization terrified me.
Between the trees, I saw movement, and I narrowed my gaze to adjust my eyes to see better in the dark. Three female figures were gliding toward me, the outlines of their bodies suggesting they were wearing dresses—prom dresses it seemed—and my fear quickly turned to confusion. Were they a group of teenagers coming home from a dance? Were they out here secretly drinking in a place they thought their parents wouldn’t catch them? It was dangerous. Stupid even. I wanted to shake them and yell for them to go home.
That smell of funeral flowers became even more potent the closer they got.
The light from the moon shined down on them, and that’s when I saw it—the fabric of the dresses were torn in several places and stained by something red, and none of these girls were wearing coats despite the temperature being in the twenties. There was also something strangely familiar about the dress belonging to the girl in the center. It was purple and puffed out at the bottom. Why did I know it?
Then I saw their faces.
My heart stopped.
No, this couldn’t be real. I had to be hallucinating.
“What’s wrong?” she asked and stepped forward under the light of the moon. Her skin was bone white, her eyes blackened, and a trickle of blood trailed down the corner of her mouth and to her chin. “You don’t recognize your best friends?”
I swallowed hard. “Molly…?” I was saying it, but I didn’t believe it. Behind her were Veronica and Tiffany, looking just as pale and lifeless, all still wearing their dresses from the night of the date auction. The night they died.
Yet here they stood, blood soiling their white flesh.
Molly smiled, and all I saw were sharp teeth. The aroma of fresh blood was everywhere, and I wanted to throw up. “So you do remember me,” she said. “I’m touched.”
My eyes danced back and forth between the three of them, my heart beating hard and fast the entire time. “How is this happening?” I whispered.
Molly pouted insincerely. “I thought you’d be happier to see us, Dana. After all, it’s been, what, a couple of years since we’ve spoken? Shoot, I can’t keep track anymore. Why don’t you come and give us a hug?” She moved toward me and I lunged back, balling my fists up at my chest. Molly cackled. “Harsh, don’t you think? What do you think we’re gonna do, eat you?”
She said it like it was ridiculous, but that she even brought it up was enough for me to be on guard.
I looked past her and called out, “Tiff?” Tiffany had always been the person I was closest to in the group, even if we weren’t exactly best friends. She was mostly kind natured and playful, which made getting along with her much easier than Veronica or Molly. But now she was leaned against the tree, her own dress shredded like ribbons, a dizzy almost catatonic expression on her face as she stared up at the sky.
“Freddy says I have to be a good girl,” she said softly, not speaking to anyone in particular. “He doesn’t like what I did. He’s gonna punish me. He
says I’m a bad girl now.”
Freddy was Tiffany’s boyfriend, who had also been killed that night. Or at least I thought he had been.
“Freddy ain’t here,” Veronica hissed.
“Hush,” Molly said as she raised a hand to silence her. “Let her talk to her imaginary friend. It’s easier than us having to listen to her ramblings.”
I couldn’t believe this was actually happening. They were all here talking like this was normal, like they all hadn’t been attacked by Owen and pronounced dead two summers ago. I should have been prepared for anything after being turned into a werewolf, but yet I wasn’t.
I licked my bottom lip. “Are you guys…ghosts?”
All three of them laughed like hyenas.
“If that’s what you want to call us,” Veronica said.
“She was always a little slow,” Molly said to her while laughing at me. They used to take turns making fun of me, and it looked like nothing had changed.
“How are you guys here?” I had so many questions but didn’t know where to begin.
“That’s not important. You’ll learn in time,” Molly said and then sashayed toward me. Her steps were weightless and quiet, almost like she was floating. “It’s my turn to ask a couple of questions.”
I couldn’t move. I was too scared to move.
“Are you here alone?” she asked.
“Huh?”
She wiped my hair away from my ear and her touch was pure ice. Molly leaned in closer and repeated herself. “Are you here alone?”
I nodded.
Molly stared at me with no expression, her eyes like two black holes. “Do I need to say that again?” she asked.
“It’s just me,” I replied with a shrug.
Molly’s face never moved an inch. She didn’t believe me. “I thought we were friends,” she began. “Friends don’t lie to each other, and they certainly don’t side with the wrong people.”
“I don’t know what you’re—”
“Where is she?” she barked into my face. There was no heat from her breath.
Lunar Rebirth (Lunar Rampage Trilogy Book 3) Page 7
