by Simone Pond
I lunged forward, sinking my teeth into the man’s thick forearm. He let out a yelp and loosened his grip. Sibyl was able to slide out from under his arm and crawl away. In a rage, I gnawed at the man’s neck until my snout was saturated with his blood. Behind me, my brothers swooped in and began chomping away at the other two men who had been standing in the glow of the headlights. They went down, hitting the ground hard as blood gurgled from their torn open throats.
One of the men had a girl thrown over his shoulder and was running toward one of the trucks, but before he reached it, one of my brothers caught him by the ankle and brought him down. The girl hit the ground, but at least she was safe. My brother ripped away at the man’s throat until his body lay still. I ran after another one, but in a frantic fit of self-preservation he hurled a giant rock, which clipped me in the head. Pain shot through my skull. I yelped and fell into a ditch.
“Vago!” Sibyl shouted.
Woof!
One of the trucks backed away and screeched out onto the road. Three of the men had gotten away. Four of them lay dead. Sibyl was safe. The other girl was passed out, but still alive.
The pack leader approached, sniffing my snout. He gave me a gentle nudge, which I took as a sign of approval. He turned around and padded off. Their work was finished. The pack stalked off into the trees, trailing behind the leader. Were they returning to the woods, or to their masters? Still so many questions …
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sibyl
Vago’s blue spirit flickered dimly as he trotted over and licked the cut above my eye from one of the many punches thrown by one of “the fellas.”
“I’m okay. Thanks to you,” I said, hugging his blood-drenched fur. “You need a bath, buddy.”
He circled the area, sniffing around to make sure the men who had been left behind were dead. I hadn’t thought about it until that moment, but he was still in his dog form and it was well after midnight.
“Hey, how come you’re still a dog?” I asked.
Woof!
A breeze picked up and Vago’s spirit lit up as he shifted into his human form. He stood naked with his hands boldly propped on his hips and his chest puffed out.
“I can shift on command,” he said.
I quickly turned in the opposite direction. “I can see that.”
“Sorry, I’ll take some clothes off of one of these dudes,” he said.
“How are you able to shift now whenever you want?”
“I ran into Esther. She gave me a little background information. Still none of my history, but enough to let me shift at will.”
“You ‘ran into’ Esther?”
“Yeah. Out in the woods. Not actually Esther, but her spirit. It was pretty wild.”
“Did she say anything about me or Eli? What we’re supposed to be doing?”
“She just said I’m supposed to guide you guys and make sure you reach your destiny.” He grunted as he yanked off the clothes of one of the dead men.
“Not terribly helpful.” My face was now starting to throb as the adrenaline wore off and reality sank back in. “We need to get Eli. They hit him pretty hard. I hope he’s okay, but I’m worried. And what about Marlo, is she okay?”
“She’s out cold, but alive. Where’s Eli?”
“Down by the road. One of the demons clocked him and dragged him into a ditch. Are you dressed yet?”
“You can turn around. Just tying up these boots.”
I glanced over at Vago. He had on baggy acid-washed jeans, a sleeveless flannel shirt and workman’s boots. He looked ridiculous and his hair was sticky with blood, but his smile beamed when he came toward me.
“I’m glad you got here before they …” I didn’t want to finish the sentence.
“My pack heard the call,” he said.
“Huh?”
“The call. It’s all part of this supernatural world we’re a part of. You’re connected to it because you’re special. The pack must protect you.”
I smiled. “I like the sound of that.”
“Still figuring out the rest as we go along. Esther said she’d return my memories after we take care of the city hall business. By the way, where do we stand with that?”
“Long story, I’ll explain on the way to the police station. Get Marlo and let’s go find Eli and get out of these backwoods before more demons show up.”
Vago walked a few feet away, bent down, and hoisted Marlo over his shoulder with ease. I still couldn’t see her spirit, just the shadow of her body.
“We need to get her to the hospital,” he said.
His voice was tight, like he was trying to hold back a valley of water about to burst through a wall. I clenched my jaw through the soreness and followed Vago down the driveway back to the main road. He turned right and kept walking.
“I see Eli’s car up ahead,” he told me.
We quickened our pace, keeping close to the trees in case more of “the fellas” decided to take a moonlit drive to the shack. Hopefully, that evil den was smoldering out its last breath. Vago set Marlo down in the grass by my feet and told me to wait while he checked around for Eli. I sat down and propped her head in my lap, stroking her hair and whispering words of comfort. Her pulse was slowing down.
“You gotta hurry, Vago,” I called out.
“I found him! He’s alive,” he yelled back. “But not looking so good.”
Vago’s strength seemed to have multiplied in the last few days because he was able to carry Eli, exerting hardly any energy. Eli was a tall guy with broad shoulders and solid muscles. Vago was muscular, but not nearly as tall.
“Did you suddenly inherit some super-human strength?” I asked.
“Must come with the pack,” he teased, placing Eli down on the grass next to me.
I shook Eli’s shoulder. “Please wake up.”
We waited quietly in the seclusion of the trees, me silently praying for yet another miracle, Vago standing over us like a guardian of the night.
“I couldn’t find his keys,” he said.
“What about one of the trucks?” I suggested.
“Smart girl. I’ll be right back. Don’t move.” Vago sprinted down the road.
“Like I’m going anywhere …”
“Sibyl?” Eli’s voice strained to reach me.
I leaned down and held his face, then kissed him over and over. “Oh, thank God, you’re okay. You’re okay!”
He let out a soft laugh. “I wouldn’t go that far. My head is killing me.”
“One of them nailed you with what sounded like a tire iron. Then they took me to some shack in the woods. But I got away.”
He tried to sit up, but dropped back down. “Who hit you?”
“I’m fine.” I rubbed my blood-stained cheek with the back of my hand.
“You don’t look fine. And your friend there looks beat to hell and back.”
“This is Marlo. They had her in the shack for a day. But Vago’s coming with a truck. We’re gonna get you both to the hospital.”
That time Eli managed to pull himself up. “No way. I’m not going to the hospital. We only have one day left. Also … I’m starting to think certain people in this town aren’t to be trusted.”
I grinned, cocking my head. “Now you know why I’ve stayed at my house for the last year.”
He laughed. “Not what I meant.”
“I know. I’m teasing. After these last few days I finally get it. These gifts aren’t a curse. And there’s a purpose for everything to be worked out for good. Somehow.”
The sound of tires rolling over gravel approached. I stood up and helped Eli to his feet, holding his waist to keep him from falling over.
“We’re so close to stopping this craziness,” I said.
“But there’s still a big mystery for us to unravel and according to my grandma, this is just the beginning,” Eli said.
“Everything’s the beginning of something. Now we know we have a higher calling that we can’t ignore. I trie
d and failed. Like catastrophically. We don’t know all the details yet, but I do know this, Eli, I’m really happy I met you so we don’t have to figure this out alone.”
He pulled me closer and kissed me. I didn’t even care about my split lip, my bruised jaw, or the caked blood above my eyebrow. I only cared about connecting with Eli. We rode the currents of elation our bodies were able to ignite just by touching one another.
Vago cleared his throat. “You ready, lovebirds?”
Eli scooted back, and I jumped up. “Oh, I’m ready. I’m more than ready.”
Vago picked up Marlo, and Eli leaned on my shoulder as we trudged to the truck. The four of us squeezed into the front seat. I gave Vago the details of what Eli and I overheard in the woods about the blood sacrifice. About some boss in charge of the whole thing. And how the lady at city hall was most definitely tied to it.
Vago hunched close to the steering wheel, concentrating on the road, reminding me of a senior citizen out for a Sunday drive. This was his first time behind the wheel operating a vehicle.
“You’re doing great,” I told him, though his constant braking was making my stomach roll.
“I feel like I’ve done this before, but the brakes are super sensitive,” he said, slowing down to a near stop as we went around a curve.
“Let’s drop Marlo off at the hospital, then head straight to the police station. We don’t need to go into the whole blood sacrifice thing. Just that there are bombs in the building and the woman at the information desk is involved.”
Eli, who kept coming in and out of consciousness, said, “What about the men who kidnapped you and Marlo? We’re telling them about that, too.”
I held his hand. “I don’t think we have a choice. My face is roughed up pretty bad. The good news is we now have plenty of evidence. Too bad Marlo torched the shack. But hopefully they can still find evidence in the trucks and around the property.”
The drive back to Coastview took double or maybe triple what it normally would’ve taken, but it beat trudging through the woods in the middle of the night with satanic terrorists on the loose. My biggest concern—though I kept it to myself—was which officer would be on duty at the police station and whether or not they’d be on our side.
Chapter Thirty
Sibyl
The ER at Coastview Hospital was empty and quiet at six o’clock in the morning. Eli waited in the truck, while Vago carried Marlo up to the front desk to the nurse on duty. Her spirit exuded soft hues of powder blue as she stood up and came around to help situate Marlo into a wheelchair. I remembered her from my month-long stay the previous year after the accident. I think her name was Katie.
Handing Vago a clipboard to fill out, she stood in front of me a moment, most likely studying my wounds. “You sure you don’t want to get looked at, Sibyl?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” I assured her.
“You don’t look fine.”
“So I’ve heard … But we need to get to the police station to report what happened. Can you call Marlo’s parents?”
She handed me something cool and wet. “At least clean out the cuts so they don’t get infected.”
“We’ll be back to check on her later,” I said, heading toward the exit.
Vago drove to the police station and parked at the far end of the lot. A stillness encapsulated our small town. It might’ve been a marine layer of fog, but there was something ominous shrouding Coastview. The energy, though calm, felt uneasy. Like tiptoeing through a dark basement to avoid waking up the monsters in the shadows. The only signs of life were the leaves scuttling across the pavement and the occasional whoosh of a passing car on the highway in the distance.
I helped Eli out of the truck and asked, “Are you sure you want to go in there with us?”
“I just need some water,” he said, straightening his grass- and blood-stained vintage shirt.
“You got some stains,” I teased.
“Least of my worries.” He grinned and reached out for my hand.
Vago came around to our side of the truck. “You sure about this plan?”
“Just shift into a dog so we can go into the station,” I said.
“I’d rather go inside in human form; you might need my strength.” He flexed his muscles, which looked ridiculous in the sleeveless flannel.
“We need to make things look as normal as possible. Normal means I would have my guide dog with me. Not some stranger in acid-washed jeans and that awful shirt. Also, we might need you to call on your pack for assistance.”
“Okay. Sold.”
Vago shifted from human back into his dog form so I could only see his blue spirit. Eli found some rope from the back of the truck and made a leash for Vago, not that he needed one, and the three of us made our way across the lot toward the police station.
Inside the station, Eli held my hand and I squeezed the rope of Vago’s makeshift leash. Our supernatural trifecta made a slow approach to the officer on duty. I exhaled with gusto when I noticed his spirit flickering yellowish brown around the edges of his body.
“One of us,” I whispered.
The officer looked up from whatever he was doing.
“Sibyl Forsyth? What are you doing here at this hour?” he asked.
“We’d like to report … um, I guess a few things,” I told him. “I’m sorry, but which officer are you?”
“Hochberger,” he said, standing up. “Are you okay? Did this man harm you?”
“Oh, God no! We were attacked. He’s hurt too,” I replied quickly.
“Officer Hochberger,” Eli said calmly, “we need to report some heinous crimes, but we’d like to sit down. It’s been a long night.”
“Sure, sure. Let me get you set up in a room.”
He came out from behind the counter, his set of keys jingling as he scurried a few feet ahead of us.
“Thank you, Officer,” Eli said.
“Now, I’m familiar with Sibyl here, but I don’t believe I know you, young man,” Hochberger said.
“I’m Elijah. Esther Townsend’s grandson.”
“Ah, yes. Come on in and sit down. Can I get you anything? Water?”
“Water would be great,” I said.
“I’ll get some ice too. I’ll be right back.” He left the room and shouted to another officer on duty that I hadn’t noticed. “Douglass, keep an eye on the front while I talk to these folks.”
A fist of worry started twisting in my stomach. Did I not notice Douglass because he didn’t have a spirit, or because he was tucked away in an office where I couldn’t detect him? I stretched my head from side to side, feeling as though the cords in my neck were made of barbed wire. Eli’s words echoed in my ears: certain people in this town aren’t to be trusted. Maybe nobody in the entire town could be trusted … But I could see Hochberger’s spirit—that was a good sign. I couldn’t let my fear get the best of me. We only needed one good person to hear us out. If we could get Hochberger to listen to us, surely he’d send for the bomb squad.
Hochberger entered the room—his spirit brighter than before—and set down cups of water. He came back with a bowl of water for Vago, who lapped it up in less than a minute. Eli let out a pleasant moan, holding the ice pack against the back of his head.
With the door closed, we sat in privacy and explained everything—almost everything—from the moment Eli and I stepped into the Sons of Cain. According to my story, we acquired the intel on the bombing at city hall by overhearing someone bragging at the bar. We had car trouble leaving the place and got rolled by the two men. Eli hit. Me kidnapped at gunpoint. I left out details on how Marlo and I escaped the shack and the pack of dog shifters killing some of the men.
Officer Hochberger scribbled copious notes, flipping one page of his notebook after another to keep up. When we were finished, he breathed out a huge sigh.
“Quite a night you’ve had. And you said Marlo Knight is at the hospital?”
“Yeah. Probably a concussion and dehydration,”
I said.
Saddened by what had happened to Marlo, I clasped my hands in a prayer. Would she ever recover from this tragedy? I had to believe that there was an underlying, inexplicable and possibly supernatural purpose for the pain.
“Why you were over on that side of town at a bar like that?” Hochberger asked.
“It was my fault,” I said. “I wanted a beer.”
“Big price to pay for a beer,” he said.
A tap on the window bolted through the calmness of the room.
Woof!
I jumped out of my chair.
“It’s okay, Sibyl. It’s just Chief Pike.”
My blood turned to ice.
Chief Pike was supposed to be off today, hanging out with Aunt Ruthie. They had enough wine to knock out a mule, but clearly the man was more stubborn than one. He was going to make everything about this so much more complicated. I sensed it throughout my entire body.
“I’ll be right back.” Hochberger scooted away from the table and left the room.
Vago growled under his breath.
“I know, buddy. Just play it cool. All we need is one good officer to make the call. I’m surprised he’s standing upright after all of that wine yesterday.”
Eli’s fingers traced the inside of my palm. “The man has a high tolerance.”
“Hopefully he won’t stick his nose into this and just let Hochberger deal with it. Let’s see what happens,” I said.
Pike entered the room and scraped one of the metal chairs across the floor.
Woof! Woof!
“Sibyl. Eli,” Pike said with a bite. “Sounds like you had quite a night.”
Woof! Woof!
“Can you do something about your dog?” Pike asked.
“Come here, Vago. Settle down. It’s okay.” I patted my leg, but Vago wouldn’t shut up. His bark grew more ferocious, almost savage.
“Eli, why don’t you take Vago out into the hallway. I need to chat with Sibyl. Alone.”
“Excuse me?” he said.
“You heard me.”
“I prefer for them to stay,” I said.
“This is a private matter, Sibyl.”
