“Aegon summoned a Skinwalker to help us fight against the Wolves,” she told him before they left her office. “I’m not exactly sure why, there wasn’t much time for us to discuss it, but I think he’d helped this creature out at some point in his past, and was owed a favor. It was extraordinarily powerful, and before I lost consciousness, I saw that it had really damaged some of the...Wolves.”
Colton looked at her as if in surprise. “None of the elders ever talked about it,” he said. “I’m not sure why they would have chosen not to pass on the story of an Immortal such as that one.”
“It wasn’t a pretty sight.” Grabbing her tablet from the desktop, she walked from the office with Colton following behind her. “And after I woke up, the creature had vanished.”
“Well, what else do you know about them?”
“Very little. They tend to be sly and elusive, but they also like to create chaos. Native American legend believes them to be the highest level of shaman, but one who uses their abilities for evil rather than good. Most Native American people won’t even talk about them, especially to outsiders. Other cultures have similar myths, though most of it is old, some even obscure enough to wonder if there’s a relationship between them.”
“You’re certainly right about that,” he said, scratching his chin thoughtfully as they walked. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you, I seriously combed just about every reference to a Skinwalker that I could find. Most of it didn’t give me any remotely useful information.”
Conversation was cut short as they got into Lacey’s car, but as soon as they were on the road, she picked up the thread where they had left off. “And I wonder how useful any of my limited knowledge might be. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, and I don’t think I ever learned anything that would be of help to us now. It’s like we’ve just discovered a brand-new life form.”
“I don’t like going up against something we don’t know anything about. I mean, it’s one thing to go up against a Shifter, or a Wolf. At least we know, for the most part, what their capabilities are.”
“I know the feeling,” Lacey replied absently, for the mere thought of tangling with a Skinwalker was enough to induce something very close to panic in her. Though she was correct in telling her partner that Aegon had summoned the Skinwalker as an ally, there was still something about the creature that caused a cold chill of fear to course through her, an unusual emotional response from one who was easily one of the strongest creatures on the face of the planet.
With Lacey’s driving, the short ride to the lab seemed to pass in a blur, and soon they were facing Linus at his work station. “What did you bring me?” He seemed startled to see the both of them at his desk, together.
“Nothing this time,” Lacey said, which caused a look of confusion to cross the young human’s face.
“Well, I can’t do anything more with the evidence you’ve already given me until the tests are all done,” he said at last.
“Linus, is there any mention in any of the computers about Skinwalkers?”
He laughed out loud until he realized that Lacey had been posing a serious question to him. “Aren’t they supposed to be fictional?”
“I wish,” she muttered. “No, they’re real enough. Or used to be. I’ve seen one. But what I need to know is if you have anything in your DNA database relating to them.”
She knew that the lab’s database of information was more far-reaching than those at the police department; the lab was hooked in to a world-wide mainframe as part of the DNA preservation program, so in the event of any kind of disaster that might threaten the information maintained by any one country or organization, the backup failsafe would automatically send all the data stored to every other lab in the world that was keyed into the system.
Linus rolled his chair over to his laptop, its diminutive size deceptive, for these computers were some of the most sophisticated of their kind anywhere in the world. It only took moments for Linus to pull up the entire Immortal registry. Though there were many different species of Immortal, like humans they shared some common DNA, and Lacey was hoping that someone somewhere in the world had, for one reason or another, submitted a sample that would have somewhat matched their mystery donor, that someone had seen a Skinwalker recently enough for it to be in the system.
“No such luck,” Linus said after he studied the screen for many minutes. “I can’t find a single reference here.”
“What about matching our suspect DNA with anything as-yet unidentified, like from old cold cases?” Colton spoke up suddenly.
Lacey’s head came up and she gave him a quick glance, but she nodded at Colton, knowing he was thinking about the old file still sitting on her desk back at the unit. It would be nice to find a connection between that old file and their current one, but unless they could find a way to tie either case to Jason Blyge, Lacey knew they wouldn’t have enough for an arrest.
“Sorry, guys, I got nothing on your suspect sample.” Linus sounded like he hated to disappoint them.
“Well, it was a long shot,” Lacey said. “No worries.”
“Good news, though,” he said before Lacey could turn to leave. “DNA on your assault’s PERK is in, so if you can get any other suspects, we at least have something to match to it. Your bad guy’s profile will take a few more hours, at least.”
“Thanks, Linus.” Lacey was preoccupied as she and Colton left the lab. “Damn! It seems that we’re so close, yet so far away! Everything we learn just adds up to more questions!”
15
“For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead.” ~~Thomas Jefferson
At the end of shift, they still had no word from the lab on any of their pending tests, so Lacey told Colton to go home, though she did not do the same. She didn’t need to sleep, but she knew from past experience that even she needed a break from the work, and that she would be able to perform even better if she took some down time.
Tonight, however, she knew the last thing she would be able to do was sleep. The events of the day, both personal and work-related, were a heavy weight on her heart, and she didn’t want to give the building nightmare a fighting chance. Instead, Lacey went to one of her favorite places to go whenever she needed to unwind and put the stress of work behind her.
The Crimson Goblet was a cozy pub that catered to humans as well as to Immortals. Since alcohol acted on the Immortal body in the same way it did the human body, beer and liquor was always a profitable enterprise. Bars and drinking establishments all over the world were required by Equal Opportunity Law to allow Immortals into their places, just as they were required to allow humans in, but that didn’t mean that the Undead were always welcome. There was still a social stigma attached to Immortals, as if they were pariahs who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, control themselves when among humans.
But the Goblet was different. Run by a Shifter named Elroy Nowack, the pub was designed more for Immortals than for humans, though humans were never denied entrance, unless they were known to cause trouble. Elroy had a giant of a man with hands the size of platters bouncing the door. There was rarely any trouble at the Goblet, and those who did cause trouble never returned after their encounter with the bouncer, who, as far as Lacey knew, had no name.
The pub had an open floor plan with a U-shaped oaken wood bar top, surrounded by sturdy, high-backed bar stools. Several pool tables treated with rich red felt were scattered about the expansive room, a few of them already in use. The smell of beer, peanuts, and deep fried appetizers filled the air. Tables and chairs were routinely wiped clean, and a small dance floor sat off to one side, separated from the rest of the bar by a waist-high rail. Some nights, the Goblet hosted local bands or karaoke night, and boasted an expensive and high tech music system, complete with proper acoustics built into the walls to maximize sound.
Elroy himself was a man who was proud to tell everyone how he had immigrated to the United States from the African continent. He was a tall, slender,
dark man with sparkling eyes and perpetual laugh lines on his face. He was proud of his African heritage, and would regale anyone with tales of his youth, but had once confided to Lacey that he was so in love with his chosen country and couldn’t imagine being anywhere or doing anything other than where he was and doing what he was. He donated money or supplies to the homeless on a regular basis, and on days when he wasn’t working the bar, he could be found volunteering at the local soup kitchen or shelter for battered women.
Lacey had never expected to call Elroy a friend, but somehow it had happened to her, most likely when she had her back turned. She wasn’t sure what it was about the man, but he was one of those people who was easy to open up to, and he laughingly claimed that he could heal the soul far faster than could “a snob-nosed shrink”, and for a cheaper price. Though she’d made no conscious decision to do so when she left the precinct, Lacey found herself parking in the lot of the Goblet, and seeking Elroy out in the crowd.
“Bad day, honey?” The moment he looked at her, he tossed his bar towel and register keys to one of his employees, a signal she knew meant he wasn’t to be disturbed unless it was an emergency. He walked around the edge of the bar and took a seat in the stool next to her.
“The worst,” she admitted hesitantly. She’d already told him the story of her origin, and near-destruction at the hands of the Wolves. Besides her commander, and now her...partner, Elroy might be the only other soul on the planet who knew the whole story. “Okay, not the worst but a close second.”
Elroy signaled his man behind the counter, and with quick efficiency, the young human placed a sparkling snifter of Bushmills single malt scotch with a single, large, round sphere of ice in front of Lacey, along with a glass of iced tea for Elroy. Lacey smiled at the dark-skinned man, sensing that he was in full “shrink” mode, and nothing she would say or do would throw him off her trail until she’d told him what was bothering her.
She took a sip of the amber-colored liquid, enjoying its burn as it slid down her throat. She absently swirled the scotch, watching the ball of ice swivel. “I found out something today,” she began. “Something really important.”
“And disturbing, I see.” Elroy’s voice was mild and cheerful at the same time. She’d never seen him in any mood other than happy, and she wondered if he was like that by nature or just very accustomed to hiding his true feelings from the rest of the world. He always could read her like a book, no matter what kind of poker face she’d tried to put on.
She sighed, taking another drink of scotch. “It involves my new partner.”
“The Wolf?” His voice surprised.
“His bloodline.” Lacey clarified. “The incident in Greece. His ancestors were responsible.”
“And you didn’t know this?”
She shook her head and drained the glass. “I could have found out, I suppose, if I had looked hard enough at it. But I never expected to come into contact with one of them.”
“There’s more to it.”
“Yes. He knew all about it, yet he said nothing.”
Elroy made a wordless murmur and drank from his frosty glass. “Do you blame him for what happened?”
She rolled the snifter between her hands, watching the ice spin around the outer edge. “Of course not. He hadn’t even been born when my family was killed! He couldn’t have had anything to do with it. But he’s my partner.”
Elroy nodded in understanding. “Ah, and by not telling you, he betrayed the trust of a partner.”
She set the glass down on the wooden bar with a solid thunk. “You think I’m being silly.”
He leaned back in his chair and belly laughed. “No, I think you’re being boringly normal. You have a hard time building trust, even under normal circumstances.”
“But I’ve got to be able to trust my partner. It’s something you have to have in my line of work.” She stressed the word ‘have’ using her fingers to make air quotes. “When I go through a door, I’ve got to know the person behind me has my back.”
Elroy beckoned to the bartender, who smoothly filled Lacey’s glass again without a word. “And did you ask him why he hadn’t mentioned it?”
“When I talked to the commander about it, he said he’d told Colton not to bring it up. But, both of them assumed that I already knew of Colton’s connection, that I’d known since he first came to the department. The commander tried to take full responsibility for that.” She drank again, wishing that she could change the subject but knowing that he wouldn’t let her go until they’d hashed it out in its entirety. She sighed again. “I reacted badly, treated Colton badly, at first. I don’t know what came over me. I’m not usually like that.”
“Hmm,” Elroy said. “I think you should, what is phrase, ‘stop beating on yourself’.”
In spite of it all, Lacey had to smile. She wondered if he’d made the blunder intentionally. “You mean ‘beating yourself up’, I think,” she corrected.
“Ah, of course.” He drained his glass, slid it across the bar and patted her on the shoulder. “I think it’s easier for you to remove the blame from your partner than it is to remove it from yourself. First, you must learn that you had nothing to do with it, either.” He mimicked her air quotes when he said ‘you’. Then, with a wide, wise smile, he left her side and returned to his duties behind the bar.
Lacey finished a third drink, wondering what he would have thought had he known his advice was almost identical, word for word, to that of one Dr. Marcell Dilorenzo, the man with numerous letters parked behind his name. For some reason, Lacey thought Elroy would have been amused. Hell, for all I know the man’s got himself a degree in psychology and just doesn’t tell anyone!
Feeling somewhat better about things, Lacey headed for home, her secluded hideaway in the woods. She had a meal and a glass of blood in front of her TV screen, exchanging her usual daytime soap channel for one playing a comedy, something that had always served to chase away the horrible dreams. She hadn’t expected to fall asleep on her couch; such a thing never happened to her.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Dimly, she heard the yips and snarls of the Wolves. She wanted to close her eyes, so she wouldn’t see what she knew was coming, but in the dream she couldn’t look away. In the dreams, she could never look away, as if her subconscious mind was forcing her to live the moment, over and over again. She felt the familiar pain in her right side, and the ooze of blood down her arm.
She could see the Skinwalker clearly now. The creature was about eight feet tall; Lacey remembered that it had towered over Aegon when it arrived at their home. Dark brown fur covered its body, from almost black on its head to a lighter color on the torso. Even its hands and bare feet were hairy and when it moved, it brought with it a smell of cinnamon and spices.
To her horror, the Skinwalker had picked up one of the Wolves and held the animal over its head, bending the spine in the wrong direction while the Wolf yipped and whined in pain. She heard the sound of bones breaking, and the Wolf went silent. The Skinwalker shook the animal several times, and, seeming convinced it was dead, threw it aside with great force.
Lacey watched the Wolf fall to the ground as if in slow motion. The limp body rolled several times before coming to rest in her line of sight. The Wolf’s body slowly began to change, taking on its human form, and despite everything else, she found herself fascinated by the process.
It took less than three minutes for the Wolf to fully transform. The sounds of battle still raged around her, and Lacey wanted to get up and help, but her body was frozen in place. She watched with trepidation as the naked body began to take the shape of a man, and to form a familiar face. Though the eyes were glazed and dead, they stared at her accusingly. Her heart thumped hollowly in her chest as she gazed upon the now-familiar face of her partner, his dark eyes boring into hers.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
With a sharp gasp, Lacey woke, shivering violently. She was disoriented for a moment, not recognizing her surroundings r
ight away. The TV, having sensed her inattention, had put itself into sleep mode; while she could still hear the slight sound of power coming from the screen, it was dark and reflected her image as she stared around her living room in confusion.
Her glass still sat on the coffee table, the small amount of congealed liquid turning old and brown. She gave an inward curse because it was always difficult to get the blood out of the glass once it had dried. With a sigh, she carried the glass to the kitchen, filling it with water and setting it into the sink to soak.
Noticing the time, she decided she may as well try going back to sleep for a few hours, in her bed this time, so she climbed the curving staircase, stripped off her clothes, and climbed into the soft comfort of her bed. Just as she was about to drift off, a stray thought about the Skinwalker passed through her mind, some bit of information that she knew might be important, but it flitted out of her mind just as quickly as it had appeared.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Colton, too, was having trouble sleeping. He tossed and turned, he growled and cursed, until Becca rolled over and turned on the dim lamp on her night table. “Honey, what’s wrong?” He was facing away from her, so she laid a hand on the back of his shoulder as if in sympathy.
He shook his head. “Lousy day.” He knew that she had enough of her own problems with the kids all day, and didn’t want to add to the load she was already carrying. He felt her warm hand brush down his bare back.
“Sometimes it helps to talk about it.” He could hear the concern in her voice.
He sighed. “There’s this thing, with Anderson. She’s said from the very beginning that this case reminded her of something that she couldn’t quite remember. I was kind of prodding her, asking about her childhood. Well, she had a...like a blackout, I guess. Or, more like what soldiers can have after coming home from battle?” His voice rose, making his statement sound like a question.
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