by Kaye Draper
Tess, Death's cold voice whispered in my mind. Please hurry.
I waved at the hunters, who were still frozen, staring at me. "See ya later."
I stopped to look back when someone made a choking noise.
Cloud was bent over, gripping her waist, shaking. Finally, it was too much to contain, and she let out a wheeze of husky laughter that soon became a full-on belly laugh.
I flipped her off and walked out the door to chat with my stalker, feeling stupidly pleased with myself. I'd never seen Cloud snort and laugh-cry before. My life was complete.
I turned toward the shadows near the woods. Now I could die happy.
Chapter 8
I paced into the forest near the hunter's lodge. It was quiet, hushed. Almost like that quiet that falls over the woods when there is a predator moving through it. Only this wasn't a fearful silence it was awe... reverence.
Even the magical creatures of the world had a healthy respect for Death.
I crossed my arms over my chest and waited, Ahanu perched on my shoulder. What did my creepy stalker want now? I just knew it couldn't be anything good.
Death emerged from the shadows. He spared me the rabbit form. Today he was human-looking. Even if he was far too old-world and dapper for the current state of humanity. Cloud had said she only saw the rabbit before. I wondered if he appeared differently to every person… when he chose to show himself.
He smoothed a hand over his dark, pinstriped suit, and smoothed his silver-streaked black hair. His blue eyes were so light, it was like looking through tinted glass. Or frosted water.
That strange air he always carried was still there. He remined me, somehow, of a curious child. He didn't really understand humans. We were puzzling to him. And apparently, I was super interesting as I struggled through the shitfest of my life.
"What?" I asked, voice petulant. I didn't care. He was always trying to foist responsibility on me—almost like a real parent. He did call me his child, but I wanted an emancipation from that fucked up relationship.
"My Tess," he said, that old sadness coloring those frosty eyes. It made me uncomfortable, reminded me of the way he had looked at me when he stood unseen by my side through the years while my loved ones died.
"I should not interfere." He waved a long, pale hand. "But since I have already done so more times than you know... well, I had to give you a warning."
I swallowed and tried to maintain my bitchy stance. It was not the most cheering news, having fucking Death tell you he had a warning for you.
I shrugged. "Lay it on me, Daddio." It's not like this would be the first time something had threatened me. And I had a wry, cold, gnawing sensation that told me it wouldn't be the last.
"I am proud of you for taking steps to help right the imbalance between light and dark," he intoned. I rolled my eyes.
He ignored my gesture and kept speaking. "But the things you are about to see and feel... I have observed you long enough to know you will want to give up. To find peace in the darkness. Please, Tess. When that time comes. Do not choose the dark. Do not keep it as anything more than a temporary refuge."
I frowned at him. "What kind of sappy, obtuse, wizards and dwarves fantasy shit is that?" I shook my head. "No," I said firmly. "I refuse. If you are telling me that some bad shit is about to happen and that it is going to be so bad I want to die—again—then no. Just no."
I was so fucking tired of being kicked around by the fickle fates, or God, or whoever the fuck had my strings.
Death heaved a gusty sigh. I raised an eyebrow at him. I didn't care if the suave old-dude-turned-bunny-rabbit-death-god was disappointed in me. Most parents were at some point.
"My sister has asked me to relay a message as well."
I stopped mid turn-and-flee. "Your sister?"
He smiled faintly. "Yes. She was quite adamant. She wants you to know she will look after your heart."
I shook my head. "Crazy must run in the family."
I turned away again, but paused, fingers lifting to stroke Ahanu's silky feathers. "I feel like this is all part of some cruel joke or bad dream most of the time," I said, my voice almost a whisper. "But... I do know Gods don't come around to chat with us mere mortals. They don't save us from monsters. And they certainly don't try to make us feel better when the shit is about to get real."
I glanced over my shoulder at the shadows. Death had dissolved his physical form, but those cool, clear blue eyes stared back at me from the darkness. "I...." I cleared my throat, mouth suddenly gone dry and tears prickling in my eyes. What the hell was wrong with me? I didn’t emote like this. Geeze.
"Thank you,” I managed to say. “For... well, everything, I guess. Though you still could have interfered a bit sooner." Like maybe saved my mom. Or my son. Or my husband. "Asshole."
A cool voice rippled with laughter in my head. Humans are so fascinating. Then the blue eyes winked out of existence.
Cloud was leaving the lodge when I came out of the forest, making her way toward me with stiff, angry steps. "What was that all about?" She demanded, voice snappish and sharp. "Did you really speak with death?"
I shrugged. "We're tight."
She narrowed her eyes at me. They were glowing yellow with power and rage. "Tess. In all the old stories of our people…it never ends well when one is sought out by the gods."
I sighed and pasted a fake smile on my face. "He wanted to warn me that life sucks and bad things happen to me. I think he's a little late on that warning. You can't really warn someone about something that has already happened."
I laughed and made to brush past her.
She caught my shoulder. "Please, Tess."
My shoulders drooped, and I only then realized how much fucking tension was in my body. I was all wound up. I needed to get Tommy back. I needed the witches and hunters to get together and stop killing innocent bystanders and help me address the real problem—the Org. I needed food. And sleep. And someone to hold me and tell me it was all okay, and gee, no one else would ever get hurt again and I could go back to writing my crappy-ass horror novels and being a recluse who lived in a cabin in the woods to avoid the real world.
Instead I got shitstorm warnings from Death. Watch out, severe weather ahead. Ha-fucking-ha.
"He said that bad shit was about to happen. He said I'd want to give up. Something about finding peace in darkness. Gave me a big 'ol high school football locker room pep-talk like something out of an after-school special."
Cloud wrapped her strong arms around me and pulled me in against her. She was all tall and strong and lean. I was short and curvy and, barring the wendigo powers, I'd be weak and mushy. But somehow, we seemed to fit together perfectly.
Gag. What a hallmark fucking moment. Cue the sappy music and estrogen.
I wrapped my arms around her waist anyway and pressed my face to her shoulder, just breathing her in. Incense, leather and Cloud. She rubbed her hand in circles over my back and I nearly laughed at the thought of how nurturing she could be sometimes. It seemed unreal. But if I started laughing, I would probably end up crying, so I did neither.
"Whatever it is, we will face it together," Cloud said, her rich alto husky with emotion that I couldn't fathom.
It wasn't everything will be okay. Cloud wouldn't lie like that. No one could guarantee everything would be okay. In fact, everything would likely be far, far less than okay. But I wasn't alone.
My asshole brain took that moment to remind me that even that was no guarantee. People went away. They died and left me behind. It was kind of my thing.
I clutched double handfuls of Cloud's jacket, squeezing her closer and she chuckled against the top of my head. "Hungry?"
"No. Well, I mean I'm always hungry. But I don't want to feed. I want...." But I couldn't put it into words.
Cloud seemed to understand. She pressed a kiss to the top of my head, right between my horns.
"If you keep being all soft and cuddly like this, wendigo," she whispered, "I might g
et the wrong idea."
I growled. But it turned into that weird purr thing as she slid a hand behind my head and gently tugged my hair, angling my head up and back so she could kiss me.
Fuck everything. I wanted to run away somewhere and see if Cloud and I really could be like this—loving, gentle. Could we live without fighting?
But of course, that wasn't an option.
A loud throat-clearing behind us made me tense up and break away from Cloud’s soft lips with a hiss. Fucking hunters.
"If you are done committing depravity with the monster you are so attached to, some of your fellow hunters have questions," the elder's dry-paper voice said with a wry note.
I pulled back, but Cloud didn't let me go, keeping one arm around my waist and pulling me into her side when I turned to face the council member. "Would you like to talk about depravity?" She asked calmly. "We can talk about a bunch of elders sending naive young hunters to murder and die for them while they were fed lies and misinformation."
The old lady's wrinkled mouth pressed into a firm, straight line. Her lips nearly disappeared. Then she turned and led the way back to the lodge.
I straightened my spine and thanked the bitch for getting me back in touch with my inner monster. "Let's go plan out how we are going to murder some crazy government dickwads and get my ghoul back."
Cloud heaved a sigh and shook her head. "And just like that--"
"Shut the fuck up," I cut her off. "Let's go kill shit."
After a couple more hours spent arguing with ancient, stick-in-the-mud hunters who acted like they lived in the fucking 1800's, we returned to my place... or as Cloud insisted on calling it, The Commune. She thought she was so funny. I didn't laugh. She was weirded out by the way the witches all seemed to enjoy being together in a comfortable family-like community. It was almost comical. But the word Commune just made me think of religions, governments, and people drinking poisoned Kool-Aid.
Uncomfortable though she might be with the witches, Cloud was also right in her element. She probably had no idea how right she looked, stalking around giving orders and lectures about hunter culture to a bunch of hippie witches.
Myself, however.... Well, I fucking hated people. Any people. Always. Large numbers of them made me feel twitchy. And bitey.
I snuck away from the preparations in the... encampment? Enclave? Goddamn it, she was right. It was a fucking hippie witch commune. Anyway, I snuck away to find some much-needed peace and quiet. The creatures of the forest were there, but they were silent, coming and going without drawing attention to themselves. As if they knew I wanted to be left alone. I was surprised how many of the witches came out here and walked among them from time to time, getting to know the beasts they had denounced as evil until only days before.
I walked down to the shore, then sat on a boulder and looked out over the seemingly endless Lake Huron horizon. The water was nearly calm, with only the tiniest of little ripples touching the surface. People who weren't from Michigan didn't understand the size and ferocity of the thing we called a "lake." I had seen waves so high the water reached the far treeline, and photos of the surge had been mistaken for ocean waves. Many a ship had been lost out there, and the bottom of the lake was riddled with shipwrecks.
I often wondered if I would see a ghost or two out here, pacing and fretting about their boat sinking. But it never happened. It made me wonder if some of the less substantial shadow creatures were actually human ghosts... I shivered.
Shit Tess, like you need more things to scare you. I knew what I was doing though. My mind was trying to keep me distracted.
The plan was for the hunters to come to the commune in a couple of days. They would join up with the witches and we would be able to come up with some glorious plan for finding out where the Org was keeping Tommy (and Elena). Two heads are better than one and all that jazz.
Cloud and I went out a few times, trying to find the Org and their base. But they were everywhere, their movements random and sporadic as they hunted for science projects. And we always had to be careful not to get too near, so we wouldn't end up giving them one more subject for their experiments. We had no idea what kind of tricks they had up their sleeves.
But we were learning.
Ahanu made a great spy. He and the dogman did this thing where the dogman led the Org on a chase and Ahanu watched everything they did.
They had humans and witches. They used a blend of modern weapons and magic. They moved together like a trained military force.
But we still had no idea where their home base was.
We thought it might be somewhere in southern Michigan, but every time Ahanu got past a certain point, he was stymied by some sort of magical misdirection. The last time that happened it had taken him two days to find his way back home. He'd been dazed, confused, and as pissed as a little bird-ghost-boy could be.
I ran a hand through my hair, untangling it. My hair and horns were both almost back to their original length. Apparently, my body was insistent that I maintain the wild animal image. I was almost starting to suspect I was more monster than human these days.
I tried to bring my scattered thoughts back together into some sort of order. I wanted to hunt something. But things were moving too damned slow. I wanted Tommy back, so the constant empty echo in my chest would stop reminding me that part of my being was missing. He really was a part of me, as much as I hated to admit the depth of that connection. And the rest of his family seemed to be more and more set on adopting me as one of their own weird number with every passing day.
I scrubbed a hand over my face. Even if we did manage to find Tommy, there was no guarantee that I could put him back together. I could barely feel the magic that connected us anymore. Was he out there somewhere decomposing?
A twig snapped behind me and to the left.
I spun, crouching on my rock, claws out and fangs bared.
A red-faced, puffing human stumbled onto the beach. "Oh! Tess. Thank God," Bob the watcher said, relief oozing off him. "You have to come with me!"
He held out a chubby hand and crooked his fingers, turning impatiently and starting off into the woods, in the opposite direction of my property. His spotless tan Northface jacket flapped open around him and he looked completely out of place in the forest.
I stood, but didn't leave my rock. "Why? What's going on?"
His scent was heightened, all human and sweat and the sweet tang of fear. I reminded myself I shouldn't eat the watcher guy. I should probably see if Cloud would feed me. I could feel the hunger intensifying with every day I went without human flesh and blood.
I felt like a begging dog, but hey, you do what you’ve gotta do.
Bob turned back to me. "Come on," he insisted. "You have to hurry. The little witch girl is out there, and the Org is coming right for her."
I tilted my head. "Viola?"
What was she doing out in the forest away from the commune? I remember the sight of her twin sister, throat slit, lying lifeless in the forest after her own excursion. No way would Viola make the same stupid mistake. Right?
Bob heaved an exasperated sigh. "There isn't time, Tess. Your double agent witch said to hurry."
I hopped down onto the ground, my feet silent on the sand and grass mixture. Skirting another large rock, I made my way to the watcher. "Cal sent you?"
He nodded. "I was supposed to be in hiding. But no matter what Cloud said, I couldn't just go away with my tail tucked between my legs and ignore the things I've seen." He turned wide eyes on me, his face strained. "I stayed. I watched. It's what I do."
I put a hand on the distraught man's shoulder. "And what did you see?"
He started walking and I followed slowly. "I was coming to tell Cloud what I've observed. The organization is everywhere. They keep popping up like magic. And they keep coming back here. Probably drawn by all the powerful auras in the area."
I stepped around a tree trunk and watched Bob trip over a log, barely catching himself. Humans rea
lly were clumsy. I was so used to spending time around hunters and witches, and magical creatures that I had forgotten they weren't normal.
"I came across the girl in the woods. She had found a wounded creature. I think it was that dog thing that came to the house the day I met with you and Cloud. Anyway, I told her it wasn't safe to stay there, but she refuses to leave it alone. And there is a group of Org people headed right toward them." He shrugged. "And then the male witch showed up and started shouting at the girl. I think he wants to kill the dog thing so the Org won't get it. He sensed me and knew I was a watcher. He told me to come get you, said you could make the girl see reason before they all end up dead."
I picked up my pace. What the shit? I was going to kill them all. Viola for being dumb enough to go out there. The dogman for getting his ass injured messing with the org, and Cal for just being an asshole. Oh, and the Org. Those fuckers were all dead.
The wendigo madness was eager to rise up, stoking my hunger, making logical thought pretty hard.
I shoved Bob aside. "Which way?" I could move way faster without a human slowing me down.
He gestured ahead. "About half a mile that way, I think. You'll feel the witch's power signature."
I nodded. "Go somewhere safe, Bob. Cloud wasn't kidding. You aren't cut out for this shit."
I dashed through the forest, leaving the human behind. I gave a brief thought to trying to alert Cloud, but it would take too long. I could handle this. Cal could hide us if he needed to. Maybe grow some balls and fight against the Org instead of dancing around it. After all, it was his sister who was about to get caught up in it all. Again. This was the last sibling he had left.
I felt Cal's magic, just as Bob said I would. I sped through the underbrush and leapt over a fallen tree, landing in a crouch right in front of the handsome asshole witch. He froze, and I smirked at the fact that I had been able to surprise him. "Tess?"
I stood. "Where's Viola?"
He frowned at me. "Viola? She should be with you. Back where it's safe."
I frowned at him. "Stop it. Just let me help, will you? Fucking witches and your 'I'm so great' attitude. Show me where you've hidden them. I can probably carry the dogman. We'll get out of here before the Org even knows we're here."
