by Joyce Lavene
“But not entirely certain it wouldn’t kill you too.” I hugged him tightly. “I have faith in you, Lucas. Maybe not in your magic, but in you.”
He put his arms around me. They were strong and warm. He was alive, not another victim to the wolf and these woods. If I had money, I would have burned those woods to the ground.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes, of course, albeit very slowly, please. It will take me some time to recover.”
“How are we going to find the wolf?”
“I can see its blood trail. Look—on the ground in the moonlight—this should take us to it.”
I saw drops of blood in places, large pools of it in others. It had a faint greenish tinge to it from Lucas’s blood. I knew he had normal red blood like everyone else. What I was seeing, mixed with the wolf’s blood, was the magic.
“What made you think about such a stupid plan?” I asked as he leaned against me. “Shoot the wolf through me, Skye. It will die, but I won’t.”
“I admit that sometimes thoughts of what I should do buzz around in my head like flies, driving me mad. I try to grab them, but they sometimes get away from me. This thought was that a sorcerer’s blood can break through even the strongest magic. You can imagine that a sorcerer would be reluctant to take this course of action.”
“I guess it worked anyway.” I finally took a deep, shuddering breath. “I hope the enchantment on my gun and bullets will be enough to finish it off when we find it. We’ve come this far. I’m not letting it go after it killed Gerald and Tim.”
We trudged along, following the blood as the moon rose higher in the sky. The trail was leading out on the other side of the woods, away from where we’d first come in.
“You were right. We should’ve searched for it instead of assuming we could take it on like a normal wolf. It was stupid. I’m sorry you have to suffer for it.”
“Sometimes patience is the best answer.” He leaned his head against mine. “Speaking of patience, did I hear you declare your love for me before you fired a bullet through my heart?”
“Now?” I asked incredulously. “You want to talk about this now?”
“What better time?” He tried to lift his arm and point to the moon, but he couldn’t quite get it up that high. “Regardless. Should we be unable to kill the beast and he kills us instead, I would know the truth. I have heard you declare your love for your dead husband dozens of times in the still of the night.”
“You and Addie need to wear earplugs.” I grimaced, feeling ridiculous.
“Come along. I know you said it. Addie says ‘fess up to it. I believe it is appropriate at this time.”
We’d reached the main road. I could see the lights still on at the bar down the hill. The blood trail went in that direction too. I urged Lucas across the street while there was no traffic, and we resumed our hunt.
“Well?”
“Yes. I think I love you. I didn’t want to say so. I like our relationship not having strings to it.”
“In other words, you want to bed me because it helps you sleep, but you don’t want to be in love with me.”
“It’s not quite that simple.” I gathered my thoughts. “It’s only been a few years since the only man I ever loved died. I don’t want to forget him, and I don’t want Kate to forget him. I can’t move on with my life. I’m dead. I have to give up everything in another seventeen years.”
“Excellent. So you view our relationship as long term.” He smiled and kissed my forehead. He grunted doing it so I knew it was too hard for him to reach my lips.
“If you’re happy with that, I am too.” How could I say no to a man who was willing to die for me? “I like having you around. I wonder sometimes—if you remember who you are—will still want to stay here with us? With all the magic of the universe at your command, would cutting shrubs at Apple Betty’s Inn near Nashville, Tennessee be where you’d choose to be?”
“If you and Kate are with me, I would still want to be there too. I believe you have sorcerers confused with faithless magic users who have no loyalty to their loved ones.”
“And what if there’s someone else in your life that you left behind and can’t remember? You might be married. You might be engaged, and the love of your life may be left behind wherever and whenever you come from.”
“I don’t believe that’s true. I have given it thought, knowing how I feel about you and your…insecurity.”
“Insecure? Me? I’m not insecure. I’m just saying that she might be out there. What makes you think I’m insecure?”
We had reached the bar’s parking lot. There were no vehicles waiting there. The blood trail led up to a back door near a garbage can.
“I hope this doesn’t mean—”
“I knew the wolf would be close by.”
Matt? Was he the werewolf?
“Jacob and I met here all the time when we were working. I just met Tim here recently. We talked about what was going on in the woods.”
“He was probably listening.” He nodded toward the door. “It’s open, and there is blood on the handle. Let’s hope he’s not waiting for us to arrive.”
Lucas didn’t like it, but I left him sitting behind a small storage building. He still couldn’t stand upright without me. If the wolf was going to attack, it would be better for me to have both my hands ready to fight him.
“And this way, at least one of us will survive.” I smiled and kissed his forehead.
He agreed and reluctantly stayed where I left him. “Do not believe anything he tells you, Skye. Don’t get too near him. Stay aware. He may still be able to fight.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“I love you.”
I stared down into his face, my fingers still tangled with his. “I guess I love you too.”
He raised his dark brows. “I believe we shall have to do something about that reluctant tone I hear in your voice, my lady.”
“Not magic,” I warned.
“Not magic.” He kissed my hand and released me.
I cautiously walked into the bar. I wished again that I had my cell phone—this time to use as a flashlight. The interior of the bar was dark. There was no moonlight to show the blood trail that we’d followed here. I kept the Beretta out in front of me, carefully peeking through the shadows.
There was no sign of the wolf.
I walked through another door into the main part of the bar. Here at least there were small neon beer signs advertising various brands. They helped me pick up on the blood again. The trail led behind the old bar.
That was where I found Matt, the bartender.
He was still partially in wolf form as he lay on the dirty floor that was covered in peanuts and ripped paper napkins. He was moaning and thrashing from side to side. It seemed as though he couldn’t go back to being human again. He was dying.
“Skye.” The wolf’s voice was guttural, almost not understandable. He fixed me with his glowing yellow eyes, lips pulled back from his huge teeth.
“Why?” I asked. “Why were you up there killing people? Did you know you’d killed Jacob?”
“Too hard to fight. It’s what we crave—the blood. Didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Life is precious to me too.”
He barely had enough breath to speak. I didn’t feel as though I had to end him to prevent his suffering. I felt sorry for him, like Terry.
But he’d killed Jacob, Tim, and Gerald. I knew there were dozens of other people who wouldn’t get this closure of knowing what had killed their loved one. I didn’t hate him, but I felt it was justice.
He’d started to change. His face was looking more human as the seconds went by. His hands were reshaping themselves into human hands.
“They’ll come for you. I can’t help you.”
“Who?”
“My pack. Retribution. An eye for an eye. They’ll want blood.”
“I didn’t want it to end this way. But I didn’t want Jacob dead either. If your pack comes, I’ll deal with i
t.”
“No.” He tried to sit up and reach for a red scarf that was folded on the bar. “Give them this. They’ll know what it means. You’ll be safe. I’m sorry, Skye.”
I took the red scarf and shoved it in my pocket. Maybe it wouldn’t mean anything to the other wolves in his pack, but I could give it a try.
His breathing was more labored as the change continued. His legs got straight, and his head lost the wolf shape. He looked as he always had serving beer—except bloody and naked.
“You should go.” We both heard a wolf howl in the distance. “Don’t let them find you here.”
I didn’t want to leave him. I was responsible for his death. But I’d already pushed my luck tonight, and we still had a long walk back to the van with Lucas not in the best of shape.
When I touched his hand, it was cold. I got closer to his face and realized he was dead. There was a gaping hole in his chest—and one of Abe’s blue tattoos on his heel.
Angry and bitter, I gazed at it. This could have been prevented if Abe had told the truth about his magic and its consequences. Jacob, and so many others, would still be alive.
Another good reason to get out of here. How long until Abe felt this and came to see what was wrong?
I didn’t want to explain it to the police either, even though my first instinct was to pick up the phone and tell them about Matt. It was hard, but I had to put aside my police training and get out of there without touching anything.
Lucas was where I’d left him, leaning against the side of the building. I helped him up, and we started back the way we’d come.
“It’s over?” he asked.
“It is.” I didn’t tell him about the red scarf or the threat from the bartender. I could tell him later when we got home. “We’d better stick to the shadows, or we could be more popular than we want tonight.”
Several black SUVs pulled in front of us, blocking our way out. A group of men with guns jumped out of the vehicle and threatened us. They weren’t cops.
It could only be Abe.
Chapter Thirty
Morris, and another man I’d never seen, led us to the back of one of the SUVs.
Abe was lying down with blankets packed around him. He’d lost so much weight that his skin sagged on him, gray and dull. It made him look like a man who was almost two-hundred years old. His vitality was vanishing with the magic stolen from him by Artemis.
He was still wearing his sunglasses but having a hard time keeping them on his face. There had been more stolen zombies from the look of him. Artemis must have decided that he didn’t need me to be present to do his dirty work anymore.
“I can’t believe it’s you, Skye.” Abe’s breath was shallow, his voice weak, hardly sounding like him. “I trusted you. I thought you understood. Yet you teamed up with this sorcerer to destroy me.” He glared at Lucas, no breath left to condemn him.
“Me?” I glanced at Lucas who still couldn’t stand on his own. “I’m not sure if I understand what you’re doing with your army of dead workers, but I’m not the one destroying you. I told you before that it’s Artemis.”
“He wouldn’t dare,” Abe returned with some of his old fire but ruined the effect when he began coughing. “I tried to warn you about this…this sorcerer that you’ve befriended. He’ll be the death of you.”
“I think you have your sorcerers confused. Artemis has been stealing your people when he changes them back from being ghosts. You’ve felt it each time, but he hit you with some kind of spell so you can’t see the changes. I’ve seen them. The marks on their feet turn red, and the circle around the A doesn’t quite meet. It’s his brand on them as he claims them for himself. I don’t know why I can see it—unless it’s because he’s my father.”
Lucas turned an incredulous face to me, hurt and a trace of anger in his green eyes.
Abe was surprised but gave me the impression that Lucas had been right about him. He’d known there was some kind of crazy magic in me. That was probably why he’d offered me another twenty years. Maybe he thought I’d end up being his magic user at some point.
He seemed more amazed that I’d figured it out than anything else.
“You didn’t tell me that Artemis is your father,” Lucas finally said. “How long have you known?”
“He told me at Debbie’s house. He admitted to everything he’d done with Abe too, but my phone decided not to work, remember? He said he wanted me to help him take over Abe’s magic and we could share the power.”
“You should have told me.” Lucas straightened his shoulders and swayed as he pushed away from me to stand on his own. “Why didn’t you?”
I was about to answer him when Abe reminded us that he was there.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked. “You say you’ve known this was happening. Were you afraid I’d abandon you because he’s your father?”
“Really, I didn’t say anything to anyone because I was hoping it wasn’t true,” I answered both of them at once. “It’s not every day a dead woman finds out that her father is an evil sorcerer. It’s especially a novelty for me since I’ve been alone for as long as I can remember. If Artemis can be believed, he said I was taken from him and my mother. We didn’t get into who might do something like that. Debbie’s husband was a distraction with his snarling and howling.”
Abe glanced down at the ever-present cell phone in his hand. “Yes. An unfortunate state of affairs. Where is Debbie, by the way? And what are you two doing out here, covered in blood and smelling of wolf?”
I briefly recapped. “Debbie is out looking for Terry who managed to change back to being a human long enough to save her from being a ghost. As far as what Lucas and I are doing out here, we’re cleaning up another one of your messes. The bartender here, Matt, was a werewolf. You know him, Abe. He was one of your people—another unexpected loss for you. We killed him. He killed Jacob, and no telling how many other people.”
“As I said, sometimes things happen that we don’t plan for.” Abe’s words were deliberate. “Werewolves—and other creatures—can be a terrible byproduct of magic. I don’t like it any more than you do. But if I never attempted to save anyone—” He drew in a ragged breath. “We’re getting off topic. I’d like to believe you about Artemis, Skye, but realizing that he is your father doesn’t make you any less culpable for the losses I’ve suffered.”
“Seriously? I’m here telling you the truth about what happened, half of which you already know. Let’s go back to the tattoo shop and talk to Simon. He saw what happened in the alley. Take a look at his new snake tattoo. I think that says it all. He knows Artemis killed Harold. I know Artemis did it to take over your power. What more do you want?”
“Proof would be nice, instead of gossip. You don’t have any real proof, I assume, since this is what you offer me after your investigation.”
“No. You’re right. But I can prove it to you.”
“How?” He stared at me. “How can you prove something you aren’t sure of yourself?”
“In my previous profession, we called it a trap. That’s what I’m proposing. We set a trap for Artemis, and when he takes the bait, we’ll both know the truth.”
He considered it. “All right. What do you have in mind?”
I glanced at Lucas. “We were just working out those details after dealing with your werewolf.”
Lucas didn’t say anything, but I could see the questions in his eyes. I wasn’t looking forward to answering them.
“How can I trust your sorcerer to help me when I believe he’s behind your latest rebellion and my demise?”
I had no idea. The brainstorm about trapping Artemis was as far as my plan had gone along that path. But I couldn’t let him know.
“There must be some magic that could allow you to know what’s going on. Something like a listening device—a wire—like the police use for investigations. We could use a real wire, I suppose, but after trying to record him on my phone, I don’t think that would work.”
Abe nodded slowly. “I may have just the thing back at Deadly Ink. But I warn you, Skye, there will be consequences if you are lying to me.”
“I’m not worried about that. Let me show you what a rat Artemis really is. Then you can decide for yourself.” I wasn’t worried about the men with guns standing around us either. I’d just killed a werewolf. How much worse could anything be?
“You have a day to get this set up. Let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll give you the charm you require.” Abe gave the word to his people. They bundled him up in the back of the SUV again and left us at the bar.
“Would it be terrible to go inside and have a drink with a dead werewolf?” I asked Lucas. “I don’t think Matt will miss it.”
There was a long, keening response from somewhere in the distant darkness.
“Did he mention companions?” Lucas asked as we started back up the road to where we’d left the van. “Werewolves always travel in packs. It might be better to have a drink at home.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.” I kicked at an empty beer can in the parking lot as I started walking. “Abe could’ve given us a ride back. And what did he mean by rebellion? He and I need to have a talk when this is over.”
It took a while, but we eventually made it back to where we’d started.
Tomorrow, everyone would be looking for Tim Rusk in the woods where they’d find his abandoned truck. They’d find what was left of him and Gerald. With no car wreck to blame their deaths on, I guessed they’d try to say it was a hunting accident.
Tomorrow, someone would find Matt the bartender, and his wolf friends would know he was dead. They’d probably know magic was involved, might even be able to follow our scent, even though Lucas carefully tried to conceal that we had been there.
I had the red scarf from Matt and hoped that would be enough to settle everything peacefully between us. But before then, I had to come up with a plan to trap my evil father so that Abe would know exactly where my loyalties lay.
Lucas and I had finally made it home. I realized it might be easier to confront a bunch of angry werewolves than figure out how to get Artemis to reveal his true intentions.
