Dead Heat

by Sharon Green

  When my fangs cut through to actual flesh the harpy screamed in fury and let go of the puma, then tried to turn in my direction. Those leathery wings buffeted me as I hung on as best I could, trying to do as much damage as possible before I became the harpy's main target. And I would become its target, that I knew without the least doubt.

  The harpy was writhing and fighting, struggling to turn and reach me with those needle-sharp teeth, one blazing red eye looking over its shoulder as it fought. Kill-lust burned in that eye, and it began to turn even more toward me in spite of my efforts to hold it in place. Only my body weight kept it from taking to the air, and once I lost my hold on its back it would rise up and then come down again fast and hard with talons extended -

  And then the harpy screamed again, because the puma had bitten into one leathery wing in attack instead of running off like everyone else. The puma had put a hole in the wing and was trying to rip the hole larger, so I sent my fangs into the harpy's back again in the same place I'd wounded it before. The harpy's body was armored like a tank, but other places were more vulnerable. If the puma and I could hurt the harpy badly enough…

  But of course we couldn't. The fact that we were working to make the harpy unable to fly seemed to change its mind about shredding the puma. Talons raked my shoulder hard enough to shove me away from the harpy's body, and then it had launched itself skyward again and a moment later it was gone. There was no doubt about that, not when the harpy's smell left with it. It was what might be called a muted stench, but was still more than a little obvious.

  The puma limped over to me where I lay panting on the ground, and he actually tried to lick the blood flowing out of the wound the harpy had given me. I used one paw, claws in, to push him away, and he got the message and moved back. I didn't know if a harpy had poison on its talons, but if it did the poison would do more damage if taken internally, so to speak. The blood flow from my shoulder was already slowing, so there was no real reason for the puma to endanger himself.

  But he did crouch down and purr at me, telling me as clear as words that he appreciated the help I'd given him. Between the two of us we'd managed to drive the harpy off; if it had been either of us alone we would probably have died.

  But I couldn't help wondering just how hurt the harpy actually was. Hurt enough to make it easier for humans to put her down? Probably not, but the idea would certainly be something to look into once the moon set. Along with the question of what the hell the harpy had been doing out in the woods in the first place…

  Chapter Fifteen

  The puma and I limped out of the clearing as soon as we could, heading for the deeper woods where the harpy, if she came back, would hopefully have more trouble attacking us. We found some low bushes to lie under until we healed, and then I took off on my own. I had the feeling the puma wanted to stay with me, but all he did was follow along in the same general direction a few yards back. He didn't seem to be afraid to be on his own, just reluctant to leave in spite of our not being the same kind of animal.

  But he didn't try pushing himself at me, so after a while I managed to forget he was there. I roamed the woods, staying away from the area of the wolves, but those in cat form never got together again the way they had earlier. The harpy had ruined things for them, making the predators feel like prey.

  The rest of the night was on the boring side. Running through a dark forest may be fun to begin with, but once the hunt is over there's nothing but the fighting to look forward to. Without the fighting there's just lots of dark to move through and nothing else to do. When I felt that dawn and moonset were only a few minutes away I turned and began to make my way back to the place Freemont had dropped me off, also making sure I wasn't followed. The puma had finally gone his own way, and I wanted to make sure it stayed like that.

  I crouched among the trees and bushes until that pressure came again, this time pulling me apart instead of crushing me down. The change wasn't exactly painful, it just felt like it would become agonizing at any moment. The anticipation was the painful part, half waiting for the agony to start, half waiting for the change to be over. By the time I was back to human form I was almost out of breath and sweating, not to mention starting to feel the lack of sleep. And my mind was clearing to the point where I could think rationally again…

  When I saw the Saturn approaching I left the trees and trotted over to the road, reaching it just as Freemont stopped the car. The passenger side door was already unlocked, so I reached in and got my clothes, pulled them on, then slid into the seat and closed the door before adding the deck shoes.

  "Good morning, Taz," Freemont said with a smile as he turned the car and headed back toward the motel. "Your coffee is there in the cupholder."

  "Lifeblood," I said, closing the seatbelt around me before reaching for the cup. "Coffee is my preferred version of lifeblood, even if I am too stupid to deserve having it."

  "What is that supposed to mean?" Freemont asked, only glancing at me while he frowned at the road. "What could you have done that you consider stupid?"

  "I had a possible lead to the harpy, and I just let him walk away," I said after taking a cautious swallow of the hot coffee. "He was in puma form, but the harpy found him anyway and tried to kill him. I jumped in to help, and between the two of us we managed to drive the harpy away. We didn't get away untouched, but hurt is better than dead when you can heal the hurt. The puma tried to hang around after that, but I made an effort to avoid him and the effort worked. If I hadn't done that, I could have asked him about James when he returned to human form."

  "Do you want to go back and look for the man?" Freemont asked, checking his mirrors even as he slowed down a little. "Maybe he hasn't left the area yet."

  "Even if he hasn't left yet, how am I supposed to know what he looks like in human form?" I answered with an annoyed shake of my head, the annoyance aimed only at me. "If I wasn't so tired I might be able to track him by his scent, but right now I can barely pick you up. Since you can't find him either without something to track him by, what would be the sense in going back?"

  "None, I guess," Freemont allowed with a sigh, returning to the speed he'd been driving at originally. "Is there any kind of shapeshifter community in this area, do you know? If there is, maybe they can identify the puma for you."

  "I'll have to ask Allen," I said after hesitating for a long moment. I really didn't want to get into the question with Detective Allen, but it looked like I had no other choice. Not to mention the fact that I didn't want to get involved with any kind of shapeshifter community…

  "You can ask Detective Allen after you've had some sleep," Freemont said very firmly, no more than a glance coming my way. "I know how much last night took out of you, and you need to get some of that back before you do anything else."

  It would have been foolish to argue, so I didn't. I just went back to the suite with Freemont, pretending I didn't know George was in the back seat of the car, took a fast shower, then went to bed. George would have been upset if I'd spoken to him; he knew I disliked having him see me right after the night of the full moon. I did have blood on me in spite of having washed in animal form, and that always bothered George so much…

  When my eyes opened it was 2 in the afternoon, and I felt even more stupid than I had earlier. Eight hours of sleep wasn't really enough for me to keep going on, but seeing the truth about what had happened last night had gotten me up and I wasn't likely to fall asleep again. I'd have to hope the area did have a shapeshifter community, but not to ask about that puma. It was a leopard I needed to find…

  "A leopard?" Freemont echoed when I was dressed and went out to the sitting room and put the need into words while pouring a cup of coffee. "Why would you want to find a leopard when it was a puma who was attacked?"

  "When I'm in animal form I'm very … straight-line," I said, trying to explain something I hadn't even wanted to think about before now. "I get an idea in my head and I stick with it, making no effort to think about the
idea or any of its ramifications. Right after I change back, that tendency sticks with me. It was the puma who was attacked by the harpy, so the puma must know something about James. That particular idea didn't come to me until after the moon went down, so before then I just stuck to the idea about not getting close to any of the shapeshifters… Where did George go?"

  "I think he went back to checking out houses," Freemont answered. "I got the impression he's gone over most of the area I marked out for Detective Allen, but not all of it. Do you want something to eat before you go on with what you were saying?"

  "No, this coffee will do until I wake up the rest of the way," I said, taking my cup to a chair. "As far as why I ought to be looking for a leopard instead of a puma goes, I noticed something really strange last night. The puma made his kill not far from mine, and he was busy feeding on the deer when a leopard snuck out of the bushes and tried to feed on the puma's kill. The leopard wasn't challenging the puma, because when the puma jumped on him, the leopard screamed and ran."

  "Why would a leopard try to feed on a puma's kill if it wasn't a challenge?" Freemont asked, frowning his surprise. "And why wouldn't the leopard make his own kill to begin with?"

  "If you're a true incompetent as a human being, my guess is that that doesn't change when you become a shapeshifter." I spoke slowly after sipping at the coffee, considering the idea even as I put it into words. "If you can't take down a deer - or even if you just think you can't - you have to use someone else's kill to satisfy the demand in your blood. The leopard waited until the puma finished feeding and was gone before he crept back and did his own feeding on what was left of the deer. The harpy didn't attack until some time later."

  "Are you seriously suggesting that the leopard was James, and the harpy was trying to avenge him?" Freemont asked, faint outrage behind the words. "That might explain why James has a link to the harpy, but it doesn't explain why she didn't drive away the puma for him to begin with."

  "I don't know why, but I'm sure the harpy wasn't with James earlier," I said, still examining the conclusions I'd come to. "If she had been there she would have jumped the puma, so she had to have been elsewhere. I also think the two must have a telepathic link, because James couldn't have used words to tell her about the puma when she did show up."

  "Since she attacked the puma at a time when James couldn't have spoken to her, a telepathic link sounds likely," Freemont agreed after sipping at his own coffee. "But the puma had only acted as his animal nature demanded, so when her attack turned complicated she let herself be chased away. I think Detective Allen will want to hear about this right away."

  "I'll call him as soon as I finish this coffee," I said, gesturing with the cup I held. "I'm still feeling fuzzy around the edges, but a strong infusion of caffeine ought to take care of the problem. You know, it would be nice to be able to get in touch with George when he was away. Do you think there's such a thing as cell phones for ghosts?"

  "I doubt it, but we'll have to ask when George gets back," Freemont said with a laugh. "Maybe he can arrange something with that ectoplasm you once mentioned."

  I agreed that that would be handy, and we chatted until I finished the last drop of coffee in my cup. At that point I got up to refill the cup, definitely feeling wider awake, and as soon as the coffee was ready to drink I carried the cup over to the phone. After the second ring I heard, "Granger Allen."

  "Allen, this is Taz Bell," I said. "I know this will sound crazy, but I think James is a shapeshifter. Freemont has agreed that that would explain why James was able to establish a link with the harpy. Is there any kind of shapeshifter community in this area, someplace we can go to check on the shapeshifters who live around here?"

  "Of course there's a shapeshifter community," Allen answered after what seemed like a startled silence. "Don't most places have them? Are you absolutely sure about James bein' a shapeshifter?"

  "Absolutely sure, no, but it's a damn good bet," I said, then told him about what had happened last night. By pretending I'd just been an observer on the fringes of the action, I was actually able to tell him the story with only a small amount of hesitation. Then I finished up with, "At the very least it's worth checking into."

  "Yes, it's definitely worth checkin' into," he agreed, the slowness of his words telling me he was considering all sides of the guess. "The shapeshifter community has a couple of spokesmen who make themselves available to help out and answer questions, and they even have a small office to do the answerin' in. Am I right in thinkin' you're willin' to come along?"

  "The sooner we find James, the sooner we'll find that harpy," I said, actually speaking more for my own benefit than Allen's. "Of course I'm willing to go with you."

  "Good," he said, sounding happier than I'd expected him to. "I'll be there in about half an hour to pick you up."

  I agreed I'd be ready, and then we both hung up.

  "He'll be here in about half an hour," I told Freemont as I took my coffee back to the chair I'd been using. "If the people we talk to have lists of the shapeshifters around here, we could have James located well before dark."

  "I don't believe we can count on seeing lists," Freemont said, and his gaze was just a little distracted. "I get the impression that most shapeshifters are just as reluctant as you are to announce what they are, so those in charge will do everything possible to respect the privacy of the others. Do you think Detective Allen can get a court order?"

  "On a guess?" I said with a shake of my head. "Probably not, and even if he did get one the shifters in charge might not cooperate. I think I know now why Allen sounded so happy at the idea of me going with him. If they won't talk to him, they just might talk to me."

  I took a swallow of coffee, feeling better now that Allen's reaction made sense, but Freemont shook his head.

  "I'm probably not being very wise mentioning this, but I can't let you walk out of here to be surprised," he said with a definite sigh. "Taz, the fact that Detective Allen will be happy to see you has nothing to do with what you two will be doing. He's even more attracted to you now than he was to begin with, a fact I'd have to be dead to miss. So what are you going to do about it?"

  I sat with my mouth open just above the cup, too surprised to take the swallow of coffee I'd meant to. It would have been nice to believe that Freemont was joking, but I could see that he wasn't.

  "How can he possibly be even more attracted now?" I finally demanded, lowering the cup again. "Is he some kind of pervert? That's it, isn't it. Behind all that charm and good manners he's a pervert."

  "Taz, he's not a pervert," Freemont stated slowly and clearly. "Not only is he attracted to you physically, he admires your sense of fair play - and courage. Your life was shattered through no fault of your own, but instead of giving up you found something else to do with that life. You can't blame people if they don't share your prejudices."

  Prejudices. I just sat there hearing the word echo in my head, and although I hated the word I couldn't really argue.

  "I know you hate what you've become, but a lot of people don't look at the matter with the same perspective," Freemont went on, his tone gentle now. "They don't see a horrible monster when they look at you, they see a woman who was strong enough to rise above a handicap that would crush and destroy a whole lot of others - probably including themselves. So what are you going to do if Detective Allen mentions his feelings?"

  "Scream and run?" I suggested weakly, seriously considering exactly that option. "At the very least the reaction ought to throw him off enough that I'd be able to escape…"

  "You'll just have to be gentle with him," Freemont said after showing a brief flash of amusement. "I can see now that although you do like the man, you don't like him. Do you know how to let a man down easy?"

  "Not really, but it looks like I'm about to see if I can figure it out," I admitted with a sigh of my own. "Is it at all possible that I can get lucky enough to have him attack me with a weapon?"

  Freemont just shook his h
ead, a wealth of comment in the gesture. My partner was starting to get annoyed with me, so I gave all my attention to the coffee left in my cup, then put the cup aside and went into the bathroom to get ready to leave. A quick stop in my bedroom after that supplied my weapons belt, driver's license, some cash, my cell phone, and the room key. The extras went into the pocket of my dark green pants, a golden yellow tee shirt already matched to the pants. If Allen had any sense of fashion at all, the outfit couldn't do anything but help my cause.

  It was still too early to go down to wait for my ride, but rather than stay in the room and possibly get into an even more involved discussion with Freemont I decided to do my waiting in the lobby. If that makes me a coward, then just color me yellow. There are some subjects that do a lot better if they're left undiscussed.

  The lobby was dim and quiet, an uneventful Thursday afternoon making it like that. I chose a chair that let me look out through the glass at the front of the motel and watch for Allen's car, a chair that turned out to be extremely comfortable. I enjoyed the comfort in peace for a few minutes, and then someone came up on my right and stopped about four feet away. I knew immediately who the someone was, but thanks to the night before I had no trouble controlling my reactions.

  "Well, this is a surprise," Eric Wellman said from where he stood looking down at me. "I thought you might still be sleeping, so I decided to save my application until later."

  I'd meant to ignore the man just the way I'd ignored his employers, but he'd made that impossible.

  "Application?" I echoed, his expression so neutral that I couldn't get even a hint about what he meant. "What are you talking about?"

  "Your partner George paid me a visit yesterday afternoon," Eric answered, still maintaining that expressionless expression. "He told me what you and he had figured out about why I was transferred here, and before he left he said that in my place he would quit the task force. I spent the rest of the day thinking about that, and when I woke up a little while ago I decided that I agreed with him. So I called Grail and Jaril and quit. Now that I'm out of work I need a job, so I'm applying to join you and your partners. I'll get in touch later, once you've had time to discuss the application with the others, and you can tell me what's been decided."