The Last Griffin

by Wendy L. Koenig

  She asked, “Where’s Miss Atwood?”

  Melita put on a sad face, one Olivia remembered from her acting classes. “Oh, honey. I’m afraid she’s passed on. Someone broke into her office and killed her. It was just terrible.”

  She stepped closer to Tony, who obliged by putting his arm around her. He looked as if he was eating it up. He murmured, “What did they take?”

  She shook her head, still with the sad face. “Nothing at all. What was there to take?” When she glanced at Olivia, there was a glint of something hard and dangerous in her eyes. And a spark of triumph.

  Fury blazed in Olivia. Injuries be damned. She strode over and jerked Melita away from Tony, biting back the nausea that rode the lance of pain she felt from her wounded ribs. “Enough with the acting, little missy. You’re going to tell us what you know.” As Olivia finished the statement, Melita’s body slimmed and elongated. Olivia found herself with a writhing mass of snake coils in her hands. The other woman’s golden hair had changed into a wide cobra hood with eye markings inside. The rest of her body followed suit, changing into golden-striped sleekness. Her clothes slid down the length of her to the ground. Her face, however, remained human. Olivia dropped her and jumped back, wiping her hands on her jeans. She’d never been one for any kind of snake. In her way of thinking, they were sneaky things, always trying to surprise her.

  Brian and Tony circled Melita. Brian stepped on her tail. She reared up at him, her golden hood flaring wider behind her head, but Tony anchored his fingers around her throat. Never a fool, she closed her hood and lowered to the ground. Tony moved away from her and focused his bright blues on Olivia. She realized it was her show now. She was kinda liking this not-being-under-his-ego thing.

  She was now sure Melita had been the one to give up the goods on her griffinness. She almost asked how Melita found out about her, but she lost nerve. Instead, she asked, “What did you find out?” She wrapped her arms around her ribs, choking back tears from the pain; the effort of grabbing the snake had a cost.

  “I hated you ever since we were children. You always got the best of everything. Everybody had to be nice to you, or we’d be harshly punished. I discovered that Miss Atwood talked in her sleep. And since she’d always favored you, it stood to reason that she was speaking about you in her dreams.” Melita stopped, a poisonous glare on her face. Clearly, she thought she had finished speaking, especially to Olivia.

  Tony cleared his throat. His warning caused her to jump. It was apparent to everyone that his amorous actions with her earlier had been a calculated effort to extract information.

  Olivia approved. She said to Melita, “So you told someone. What exactly did you say?”

  “I told them what Miss Atwood had said in her sleep. That’s it. I swear. Then they broke into the office and killed her.” Melita started to cry. The vision was surreal: a golden cobra with human head shedding tears. It unnerved Olivia. She also didn’t believe the little actress. She’d seen it too many times. She didn’t think the boys believed it either.

  She said, “I rather think that’s all a lie. You’re the one who broke into the office looking for my folder. Miss Atwood stumbled upon you, so you killed her. Then someone came looking, and you told them what you’d learned.”

  An ugly eruption of anger flashed across Melita’s pretty face at the words. “There was no folder about you. Whatever that old witch knew about you, she took to the grave.” In a snap, she shifted the rest of her to snake and slithered across the yard to an open shed. None of the three tried to stop her. Olivia, for one, didn’t want to face a deadly cobra, though she felt sure they could defeat her. Melita had answered every question they’d had, but they still didn’t have the answer they wanted: was Olivia a griffin?

  Brian said, “I need to get supplies.” She suppose he meant for his brew. She hoped he did. Tony helped her back into the cab of the still warm truck.

  She asked him, “What now?”

  His face was grim. “We find a place to lie low and get you both healed.”

  “And then?”

  He shrugged. “Wait and see what’s in the wind.”

  They were silent until Brian returned a good twenty minutes later. He climbed into the truck beside her. His face, hands, and shirt collar were wet, and she saw that he’d cleaned off the dried blood. A patch covered the wound on his neck. Probably better that way, so he didn’t scare people. He also had a thermos that he uncapped and handed to her. She didn’t even hesitate. In truth, the flavor of his holistic medicine was beginning to grow on her. Or maybe it was a different brew. He had to use what he could find, right?

  “What’s in this?”

  “You really want to know?”

  “I do.” She didn’t, but then again, it was something to talk about.

  “Eucalyptus, burdock, nettle, ginger, raspberry leaf and a touch of hops.” He smiled. “She didn’t have any catnip.”

  “Catnip?”

  “For the animals within.” He pounded his chest with a closed fist. Him, Tarzan. Her, Jane? Or Her, Evil Bird With Mega Killing Abilities?

  Brian took the thermos, drank, and recapped it. He reached into his pocket and produced wraps and bandages of all types and sizes. Picking a particularly wide roll, he began tightly wrapping her ribs right over her most recent bandage and her clothes. The pain was blinding and almost beyond bearable. By the time he finished, the tears she’d worked so hard to choke back flowed down her cheeks. He pulled her close and held her against him as the whine of the tires on the pavement took them into the mountains.

  Chapter 34

  Brian sat in the moving truck, staring out at the wooded road. The midday sun shone through pine interspersed with occasional bare-branched aspens and cottonwood. It glinted off the snow that layered the ground like a field of picked cotton. The occasional deer on the side of the road startled at the truck’s approach and dashed off into the undergrowth of the forest. The wolf in him sat up to take notice, but he was just too tired to do more than watch the deer run. It seemed as if he, Olivia, and Tony had been in the truck forever.

  The day had started decently enough, albeit with a pale gray overcast sky. Now, however, the clouds had taken on a deep charcoal color to them. A storm wasn’t far away.

  Olivia had kept the pickup’s old radio on one station or another. The music faded in and out with every turn of the winding mountain roads. Leaning against him in the crook of his arm, she softly hummed the songs and alternated between looking out the front windshield or his window. Tony had settled into an easy driving rhythm befitting a man who was used to traveling by auto for great distances.

  They were in the mountains, currently on Route 72, driving roughly parallel to the front of the range.

  The radio station faded out and disappeared altogether. Olivia turned to Brian and asked, “Where are we going?”

  He glanced down at her, turned on by the gentle curves of her lips. Memories flooded him of the hunger she’d shared when pressed against him. He lifted his other hand and ran his thumb across her soft mouth. “North.”

  She blushed and her greenish-brown eyes grew smoky and large. After a second, she asked, “That’s it? Just north? Why?”

  “There are fewer people. The ground is tough and dry. It’s less conducive to growing lawns and building homes.”

  She settled against him again, facing the front. Turning her attention to Tony, she said, “You’ve been driving awhile. Why don’t you let Brian take over?”

  Tony glanced at her, his eyebrows raised. “Have you seen him behind the wheel? Not a chance I’m letting him in the driver’s seat.”

  “Then let me.”

  Brian grinned. That would never happen. His friend liked to think he was in control. The master of his own destiny. Nobody drove for him. True to his prediction, Tony didn’t answer, nor did he slow the truck. After almost a minute of waiting, Olivia returned to staring out the windows, a storm cloud of her own on her face.

  Leaning close
to her, Brian whispered, “I actually engineered it this way. See, he has to do some of the work. This is the most he can manage, poor fellow. He’s tough in a fight, but driving is about all the higher thinking he can handle.”

  “I heard that.” Tony glared at Brian in mock indignation.

  Olivia laughed. Immediately, she wrapped her arms around her injured ribs. “Oh! Ow! Stop. Laughing makes me hurt.” Still, she didn’t stop giggling.

  Brian grinned and watched the trees flip by. After Olivia’s laughter subsided, he quietly said, “It’s back to the basics.”

  Olivia frowned. “What’s that mean?”

  “It means we have to start over: food, water, and clothes.”

  Tony nodded on the other side of the pickup. “Lodging. Someplace secluded.” He pointedly looked at Olivia.

  As if she didn’t hear him, she said, “We also need money and a map. Something that will show where there might be cabins of some kind. We left everything behind in the cabin, even our phones. We can’t just steal the provisions like we did the truck. Nor can we break into a cabin.”

  Brian wasn’t quite sure what Olivia was thinking. She hadn’t said a word about taking the truck. If she had a problem with them helping themselves to what they found, then they all had a problem. “We can get some cash wired to us.”

  As if reading his mind, she said, “The owner will eventually get his truck back, right? We’re just borrowing it for a while.”

  “We are. Don’t worry.” He’d have to make sure they left it somewhere it could be found. He almost laughed at himself. Olivia was certainly good for him. He was becoming an honest thief.

  Tony lifted his hand and checked the gas gauge. His friend said, “Speaking of the truck, we’re low on gas.”

  “Time for some new wheels anyway. This one stands out too much,” Brian said. “We passed a turnoff to Estes Park about a few minutes back. Let’s double back to that.”

  “Yep.” Tony slowed the truck and stopped. He jockeyed it back and forth across the road until they were facing the way they’d come. Then they were off again.

  Chapter 35

  They didn’t make it to Estes Park. The gas gauge on the old truck was faulty. Twelve minutes from the time they turned around, and just on the far side of Allenspark, the truck lurched and sputtered. Within another minute, it quit running altogether. Tony dropped it in neutral and let it coast as far as it would go, but the road had tiny rolling hills. When it reached a speed slower than they could walk, he pulled to the side and parked.

  Tony dismounted. Brian patted Olivia on the leg and hopped out of the truck. When she started to scooch to Brian’s side to exit, he held up his hand. Motioning to the radio and center dash, he said, “You need to try to wipe any fingerprints off there.” He tugged the sleeve of his shirt over his fist and rubbed his passenger’s side door.

  She glanced at Tony and found him polishing the steering wheel. Following his lead, she buffed the radio with her shirt tail.

  Once finished, she slid out and stood at the side of the road a moment. Their options were to go back to Allenspark or to continue on. None of them said anything, but by mutual agreement, they all turned toward Estes Park. The storm clouds above continued to build into a platinum and charcoal threat of rain. The temperature rose and humidity bore down on them. Though it was January, sweat slicked their skin as they walked. The reflected heat from the asphalt had melted the snow, so they at least had that going for them. Olivia’s biggest worry was that one of their beloved followers would now find them. One look at Brian’s face, and she saw it worried him too. Tony, on the other hand, kept his expression bland, as if it was an everyday occurrence to be attacked and then run out of gas during the escape.

  She liked that Brian walked close enough to her that they often nudged each other. It warmed her and made her smile.

  Them. She’d used that word a lot lately. What would she do if she wasn’t a shapeshifter? She tried to picture her life as usual: picking out makeup, fighting off patrons at the bar, home by ten or eleven at night if she had no date with a non-sleaze. Did she want that now? Normal? What about Brian? She tried, but she really couldn’t picture her future without him. That, in itself, frightened her. Would a normal life have room for a werewolf?

  She decided she definitely didn’t want normal anymore. Too many things had changed. She’d changed. She didn’t know where she fit in the grand scheme of this dual world of shifters yet, but she wanted to stay here. And yes, she was falling in love. She could no longer pretend her attraction to Brian was a lust-borne infatuation or curiosity for the wolf. She was in love with him, no matter where they ended, no matter what form he, or she, took. The thought thrilled and terrified her. Did he feel the same?

  They trudged along the right shoulder of the thin road. Traffic was light, so there was little chance of hitchhiking. That meant they would have to walk until they found a suitable replacement in the vehicle department. She had napped in the truck, but the boys had been awake since well before the fight at the cabin. She worried about them. Brian had deep circles etched beneath his dark brown eyes. His mouth had settled into a grim line. She tried to remember the last time either one of them had a full night’s sleep. Their two nights at the cabin hadn’t exactly been restful. They’d taken full advantage of Tony’s absence.

  As for Tony, he didn’t look much better, and Olivia wondered if he’d had his own midnight liaison during his sojourn.

  Either side of the road rose to sharp mountain tops, thick with various types of trees. The smell of pine and wood smoke permeated the frosty air. Someone had a campfire nearby. Twin Sisters Peak as well as the famous Longs Peak were somewhere close, but she couldn’t see them yet. They were hidden behind the peaks that surrounded them. Tributary roads tied in with theirs, and she supposed they were populated with private cabins.

  As they rounded a turn in the road, a sign about a quarter mile away came into view: Gaines Lodge. That’s when the heavens decided to open. Ice-cold rain pelted down on them, stinging their skin. They picked up their pace, almost to a jog, though they all felt near collapse from exhaustion. As they neared, she saw that the sign at the front door boasted a gift shop as well as a café. Her stomach growled at the possibilities. Oh, to have some money! The parking lot was packed, with every slot filled. In the last row of spaces, the vehicles nosed up to a fence that bordered the far end of the lot.

  Brian said, “I see a 2010 Equinox. Silver. At the fence.”

  “Perfect. I’ll call Bellerophon,” Tony said.

  As they entered the lot, they separated for their respective jobs. Olivia was to be Brian’s lookout while he broke into the Equinox.

  “Who’s Bellerophon?” she asked, once they reached the fence. It was the second time she’d heard that name. The SUV was near the back of the lot, probably an employee’s. She stood hunched in the rain and shading her eyes so she could watch the café windows and front door, her back to him.

  “Our lawyer.” Then, as if to forestall her next question, he added, “She’s a shifter too.”

  “How’s she going to help us?” A fellow at the table in the second window of the café glanced outside at her. She tensed, ready to sound the alarm. But his gaze didn’t settle; she was just someone waiting in the rain, probably for a person inside. Brian stayed hidden.

  “She’ll get us money, ID, phones, and a car that isn’t stolen.”

  His words sparked something deep inside to clutch at her heart. They were not only in trouble with Hall and the pursuing shifters, but they were now fugitives of the law. That thought froze her. She had to clear her throat before she could speak. “How often does this happen? You seem pretty comfortable stealing cars.” Tony exited the lodge and slogged through the rain toward them, head bent.

  The sounds behind her stopped dead. Brian turned her toward him and met her gaze. “Do you trust me?”

  “You know I do.”

  “There’s a difference between trusting someone beca
use you have no other choice and trusting them because you desire it.”

  “I do trust you.”

  He expelled his breath. “Good. I promise I’ll answer all your questions. But we don’t have a lot of time right now. We’ll talk about this later. I know it’s important to you, so I promise I won’t forget.”

  She hesitated, but then nodded. Still, she could feel a small frown crest her face as she turned back to the door. What had she gotten herself into?

  The Equinox started as soon as Tony reached them. They jumped into the SUV and took off.

  Chapter 36

  The rain stopped as suddenly as it had begun. The heat in the truck was on high as Brian drove into Estes Park. It didn’t take long, but he’d kept checking his rearview mirror. No one had followed them from Gaines Lodge. Nor did it appear that Hall and his henchmen had found them. That was a fair piece of good luck. And encouraging.

  “I’ll let you two off at the meet and join you after I ditch the Equinox.”

  Tony nodded, but Olivia chose otherwise. “I’m going with you.”

  Brian had to wonder if her choice was because she wanted to be with him or wanted not to be stuck with Tony. “Go with him. I won’t be long.”

  “I can help you clean off the fingerprints.”

  He glanced at her and got snagged in her mesmerizing brown-green gaze. His heart frolicked in his chest like it did every time she looked at him. He couldn’t argue with her. Grinning, he said, “Good enough.”

  He let Tony off at the restaurant where they were to meet Bellerophon: Ginger Pie. Then he drove three blocks deeper into the city and turned right twice. While he drove, Olivia busied herself wiping the radio. By the time he parked behind a tiny strip mall, she’d moved on to the passenger’s side door. Together they finished cleaning fingerprints from the vehicle. They walked quickly to the restaurant, Olivia’s hand in his.

  Arriving at Ginger Pie, he held the door open for her. Tony was seated at a table dead center on the left wall of the restaurant. Most of the other patrons sat spaced throughout the room, but mostly on the other side near an ancient jukebox. No one sat close to their table. A small stack of dish towels sat on the corner of the table near Tony. He gave one each to Brian and Olivia and said, “I ordered the special for us.” He pointed at the chalkboard near the kitchen. TODAY’S SPECIAL: COLOSSUS ANGUS BURGERS WITH BUFFALO SAUCE.