Bad Company

by D V Wolfe

  A brick settled in my gut. I’d been afraid she was going to say something like that. I thought of Vix and the bugbears who had been ‘bloodthirsty’, for lack of a better term. Vix had resisted, but not the bugbears. I quickly filled Tiff in on the ‘will sickness’ Kess was trying to track down and how it had affected Vix. I told her about the bugbears.

  “But I don’t know for sure that the two are connected,” I finished.

  Tiff’s brow was furrowed, deep in thought as she processed what I’d said. “It could be that something in the otherworld is affecting the Pucas and the bugbears,” Tiff said. She shook her head. “But the pack in Iowa are not Faoladhs. I can tell. They are giving off a scent of anger, desperation, and vengeance that is so strong, I can smell it from here.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “And what were you going to do about it if hunters didn’t show up to shut them down.”

  Tiff leaned back and crossed her arms. “I was actually planning on heading up there this weekend to try to feel out whether their anger and hatred are coming from within or if an outside force is pulling their strings.”

  “That’s a great idea,” I said. “But what if Noah and I tagged along and helped with the whole ‘entire pack of bloodthirsty werewolves against one badass Faoladh plan’?” I was buttering her up and by the look on Tiff’s face, she knew it.

  “Bane, sucking up never suited you,” Tiff said. She sighed. “But I have to say, you’re not terrible at it. I need to take care of my clients this morning, but I can close early and reschedule the rest of my appointments for next week.”

  Tiff got up and headed back out to the salon floor. Noah and I stood and he did a little goofy dance and said, “We got a werewolf on our team! Hell yeah!”

  “Oh,” Tiff said, poking her head back in the break room. “You better get some clean clothes, if I’m going to sit in a car with you. And,” her gaze roamed from my hair to Noah’s. “You’re both getting a haircut.”

  She went back out to the salon and I sighed. “We were so close to getting off with no strings attached.” I looked up the clock. It was almost ten. “We better get to a thrift store.”

  It was a little after eleven when Noah and I came back. Dearag’s thrift store was more of a never-ending garage sale. I’d found two new pairs of jeans and tossed my old ones in a dumpster behind a fast-food restaurant. Noah had a new pair of cargo shorts and a tie-dyed t-shirt advertising a float trip family reunion that had been six years earlier. The front of his shirt read, ‘Floaters for Life’. They hadn’t had any a-shirts, but the local general store had, so we were about as clean as we ever got when we strolled back into the salon. It was empty except for a mother and daughter who were at the last vanity with Tiffany while Tiffany cut the little girl’s hair. It looked like it should have been an Olympic sport. The little girl was bouncing in the chair, telling Tiff about a trip to the zoo. Her mother was trying to get her to sit still, but Tiffany was laughing and telling her mother not to worry about it as she asked the little girl questions. Noah moved to the waiting area and picked up a Sports Illustrated, but I just stood transfixed, watching Tiff talking to the little girl. Tiff had told me once that she loved kids but with who she was, she didn’t expect to find a mate in this lifetime. There weren’t many Faoladh left outside of Ireland. It was a line trait, passed down, unlike the regular bone-headed variety of werewolves that were created by biting.

  When the little girl was done, Tiff whipped the Wonder Woman cape off of her and she hopped down. I moved over to sit with Noah while Tiff finished up with them. A minute later, Tiff walked them out the front door, locked it behind them, and flipped her ‘Open’ sign to ‘Closed’. Tiff turned to look at Noah and I. “Alright, who’s going first?”

  We both pointed to each other and Tiff pointed at Noah. “You.”

  “Why me?” Noah squeaked, as he reluctantly got out of his chair and set the magazine down.

  “Because I’ve cut her hair before,” Tiff said, rolling her eyes at me. “And I’m putting it off.”

  I followed them back over to the hair cutting chairs and sat down in the chair the mother had vacated. I watched Tiff put the Wonder Woman cape on Noah and study his hair.

  “Not...not too short,” Noah said. “Uh, please? It tends to…”

  “Create static lightning storms?” I asked.

  “Cause planes to crash land?” Tiff added.

  “Frizz,” Noah grumbled.

  Tiff laughed and patted Noah on the shoulder. At her touch, I watched Noah’s face begin to blush.

  “Bane,” Tiff said, her voice more serious now. “This isn’t going to be a regular job, going in guns blazing, you know that, right?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Tiff turned the chair and tilted it back so that Noah’s head was in the sink beside her. She started to wash his hair and Noah’s foot started tapping against the footrest.

  “I’m going to want to talk to the pack. Try to reason with them or at least find out what is causing their anger. I wasn’t so lucky with the last werewolves moving through Missouri,” Tiff sighed as she squirted shampoo in her hands and went back to work on Noah’s hair.

  “There were more moving through Missouri?” I asked, sitting up straighter. “Recently?” Werewolf packs normally stuck close to larger cities and hunted only what they needed to survive to avoid detection. When they left their hunting grounds and moved states, their chances of getting caught and hunted quadrupled. This happened because while they were moving around, looking for new inconspicuous hunting grounds, they would move through smaller communities and, inevitably, they would leave behind a trail of bodies.

  Tiff nodded. She glanced down at Noah’s head in the sink and then back to me before she whispered. “Bane, something is coming. I can feel it and I can smell the same fear and anguish in this tribe that I felt in the last transient wolves. I don’t know what it is, but I want to find out.”

  So did I. I thought about what Nya had said to me. Maybe this was the demon setting traps. He’d also started frontal assaults if the SUV full of demons had been a present from him. Then again, maybe they were just tracking the soul stone. But trying to talk to a vicious werewolf pack? I remembered what had happened in Alabama when we’d tried to talk to the bugbears.

  “Tiff, if the same thing that was controlling those bugbears is controlling this pack, you may not be able to talk to them. In fact, they may be even more aggress-”

  “I know,” Tiff interrupted. “But I have to try.”

  6

  “See,” Tiff said as she settled into Lucy with Noah in the middle. “Don’t you two feel so much better with a fresh haircut?”

  “Daisy fresh,” I said, turning the engine over. I caught a glimpse of myself in the rearview. Tiff had rolled her eyes when I said I wanted to keep the color, arguing that it wasn’t very covert for someone who was trying to keep a low profile. But, she had finally given up and just trimmed out the burned, choppy, and knotted hair before giving me something she called ‘layers’. I kind of liked it, but I’d had to fuss and complain the whole time because otherwise, Tiff might think I was possessed.

  “I like it,” Noah said, grabbing the rearview so that he could look at his own haircut. Tiff had spent the most time on his hair. He now looked more ‘boy band’ and less ‘scarecrow’. To me, it was a lateral move, but I could see that Noah liked it, so I didn’t say anything. Besides, it was easier to believe that he was eighteen with this haircut.

  “Clear Rapids is about what, a three-hour drive from here?” Tiff asked.

  I nodded. “Three, three, and a half.”

  “Good,” Tiff said, turning to look at me. “Tell me what you’ve been doing for the last two years.”

  Oh, gods.

  I was almost hoarse by the time we reached Clear Rapids. We’d gone back and forth with Tiff filling me in on the supers she’d encountered and two men who were interested in Tiff but didn’t measure up as long-term dating possibilities. And
I’d filled her in on hunting, my new total from Festus, Sister Smile and Joel and my upcoming trip downstairs.

  “Jesus, Bane,” Tiff said quietly, so we wouldn’t wake Noah who was snoring softly between us. “You have less than five months to save over three hundred souls?”

  I nodded. “Beats still having almost seven hundred to save.”

  Tiff closed her eyes and shook her head. When she opened her eyes and looked at me, there was something there like pity and I looked away. “Bane, I’m so sorry.”

  I shrugged as I took the exit for Clear Rapids. “It’s my mess, I’ve got to lay down in it or clean it up.”

  “Are you going to make it?” Tiff asked.

  “I sure hope so,” I said, and then I grinned at her. “A part of me is really hoping you can talk to the pack and get the information that you need, but another part is really hoping that they are hostile and I have to take them out. I don’t know what a werewolf is worth on the soul scale these days, but it used to be eight souls a pop.”

  Tiff rolled her eyes. “You always find the silver lining.”

  Clear Rapids wasn’t sure what it wanted to be when it grew up. The old town streets we rolled through when we first got into town were sleepy and as wandering as the pedestrians who strolled down them. Four blocks over, the streets were arrow straight and made of concrete, with square buildings and square lawns lining both sides. Normally on a hunt, we’d consult lore, but I’d gotten my ass kicked by a lot of werewolves in my day and I knew what killed them. In addition to that, I had an expert leaning against my passenger side door, drinking in the town. Instead, we needed current events. We needed to know what this pack was doing and everything that was known about them.

  “Where do you want to start?” I asked Tiff. “The morgue, the police station or the newspaper?”

  “Dinner,” Tiff said. I flipped my phone open and realized it was a little before five. I glanced up to look at Tiff. I’d been about to protest that we were going to miss our chance to snag the files from the morgue or the police station. And then add to that the fact that if we waited, the reporter on the story was probably going to be gone for the day or out on assignment, but at the look on her face, I decided against it. Tiff was hungry and you don’t piss off Tiff. When she says she needs to eat, she needs to eat. I rolled down the main drag and let Tiff pick out where she wanted to go. There was a diner at the end of the block. It was a ‘no frills’ eatery, but looked clean and advertised the ‘Ice Cream Avalanche’ as its specialty.

  I parked in the funeral home lot across the street from the diner and shook Noah awake. At the mention of food, Noah’s stomach growled. He turned pink when Tiff laughed and got out of the truck. Tiff cleared the ground between the parking lot and the diner in what seemed to be about five steps. Noah and I jogged after her. We reached the sidewalk just asTiff started looking at her watch and tapping her foot in mock impatience. She winked at us and pulled the diner door open.

  “Faoladh,” I muttered to her as I passed and I felt her pinch me in the side, making me jump.

  The diner was pretty full. We were led to a back booth and Tiff kept a hand on the waitress’s arm when she seated us, asking if we could order right away. Tiff ordered the largest steak, rare, with all the trimmings. Noah went for his regular cheeseburger and fries and noticing how hungry Tiff obviously was, I ordered the same meal she had.

  “Ok,” I said, leaning forward so that I could keep my voice down and Noah and Tiff could still hear me. “I think the first thing we need to do is talk to either the police or the reporter that’s covering the story to find out exactly where the bodies were found.” I paused. The hair was standing up on the back of my neck. For just a moment, conversation at some of the other tables and booths around us had seemed to lag as if they were listening in. Paranoia again. I gave myself a little shake.

  Tiff was scanning the diner. She lowered her voice and said. “I think the newspaper will be easier. Getting a reporter to talk about a non-source protected story that they wrote will be a lot easier, than getting a police report on an open case, where the cops don’t have a suspect for the murders.”

  This was very true. “Ok,” I said. “We go for the reporter then. I’m going to see if they have a copy of today’s paper.” I left the booth and moved over to the counter where people were paying their checks and I got in line behind an old man in overalls. While I waited, I glanced back at Noah and Tiff to see Noah definitely trying to flirt with her. He probably couldn’t do it in front of me, for fear that I’d tease the crap out of him for it. Tiff was listening to him with only slightly less enthusiasm than she’d had for the little girl’s story about the trip to the zoo. Tiff, was a gem. I could see Noah’s face lighting up and becoming more animated. Based on the gestures he was making, I was fairly certain he was regaling her with the story of our SUV demons from yesterday.

  “Ma'am?” A voice said in front of me. “Can I help you?”

  I turned back around quickly and smiled at the woman. “Yes, do you have today’s paper?”

  “The Clear Rapids Chronicle or the Quad-City Times?”

  “The Chronicle,” I said, hoping I sounded casual. The woman pulled a newspaper off a shelf behind her and handed it over. I paid for it and flipped it open, searching for a story about the killings. On the second to the last page, there was a two-inch-long piece about a hiker being found as the third victim of a grey wolf pack living in the woods outside of town. “That’s it?” I asked out loud.

  “That’s what?” The woman asked.

  Without thinking it through, I showed her the short article. “That’s all they wrote about the bodies that they’re finding in the woods?!”

  The woman just stared at me. To my right, I could feel the eyes of the other people in line, waiting to pay their checks.

  “It was just some hikers,” the woman said. “All the way out on Bald Crest. It’s not like the wolves were coming into town and taking kids from their backyards.”

  “You’re...you’re right,” I mumbled and I refolded the paper and put it under my arm. “I was just sure the paper would have written more about a wolf attack.”

  I took the paper and headed back to our booth where our meals had been delivered. I never actually saw Tiff take a bite but in a very short amount of time, her plate was empty and she was patting her lips with the paper napkin. I stabbed a chunk of baked potato and pushed my plate across to her. Tiff winked at me and the process continued. I’d just finished the half potato I’d taken when she was finished with the second plate as well. I handed over the paper while Noah stared at her, his mouth hanging open, a fry halfway to it. I grabbed Noah’s wrist and pushed the fry into his mouth. “Chew,” I said to him. I turned back to look at Tiff. “The only article in there is on page eight, right at the bottom.”

  Tiff flipped the pages and paused when she spotted it. “That’s it?” she asked, looking up at me in disgust.

  I shrugged. “Apparently it was ‘just some hikers’ and it was all the way out on ‘Bald Crest’ so it wasn’t like they were coming into town to eat kids in their yards,” I said, trying to remember the phrasing the woman at the counter had used.

  Tiff met my gaze. “Not yet. If they’re starving, they will come. And if there’s a force controlling them, they will come. It’s only a matter of time.”

  “Well, what’s next?” I asked. “I suppose we need a map of Bald Crest.”

  “And a place to hole up,” Tiff said. “And prep weapons in case the worst happens. I also need to...prepare.”

  I nodded and signaled the waitress for the check. Tiff excused herself to go to the bathroom and as soon as she’d left the table, Noah leaned over and whispered to me. “What does she mean, she ‘needs to prepare’?”

  “She’s about to speak what she calls, ‘the wild bite’ tongue. There’s a bunch of ritual that goes with it. We need to find a hotel on the edge of town, preferably near a park or a wooded area. And we need a map of Bald Crest.”<
br />
  Five minutes later, we were back on the sidewalk outside the diner, trying to decide our next step. I was studying storefronts while Noah and Tiff debated if the local library would be open and have the map we needed.

  “I’ve got an idea,” I said.

  “Dare I ask?” Tiff mumbled. I cut my eyes to her and she grinned.

  I pointed to a carved wooden sign hanging over a glass-fronted store a block down from the diner on the other side of the street. The sign read, ‘Mack’s Outback’ and under it ‘A hiker, biker and hitchhiker's first stop’.

  “It’s either a sporting goods store or a really niche singles’ bar,” Tiff muttered.

  “Only one way to find out,” I said, taking off down the sidewalk.

  Tiff matched me, step for step, almost instantly, but Noah had to jog to catch up. I could tell Tiff was slowing down for us. She was looking around and her gaze was out of focus as if she was listening to the heartbeats of the people that walked by us on the sidewalk and passed us in cars.

  “What is it?” I finally asked as we paused at the end of the block, waiting for our turn to cross the street.

  Tiff’s voice was low, sending a cold chill up my spine as she said, “Someone is following us.”

  7

  “What?” I hissed back. “Are you sure?” I had felt something strange for a moment at the diner, but I just assumed it was my paranoia acting up again.

  “Definitely,” Tiff breathed. “And I think there’s more than one. You and Noah head on to the store. Act like nothing's wrong. I’m going to pretend to say goodbye and circle the block.”

  I grabbed Tiff’s hand. “Not by yourself, what if it’s the pack?”

  Tiff shook her head. “This smells...different. Just trust me, ok?”

  I hesitated but nodded in agreement. I did trust Tiff. I knew she could hold her own, but the thought of something happening to her scared the hell out of me. “Just be careful. And if there’s more than one, just come back and get us.”