by Jeff D Ellis
Hammer tilted his head. “Vision? Are we placing stock in those now?”
David ignored him. “She had a vision of a man experimenting on what looked to be a homeless man. It took place in some sort of operating room. When things didn’t go his way, he killed the man and talked about eating him. It seemed like he was trying to develop a way to regenerate tissue.”
Hammer spoke up. “It could be someone at Thorn Technologies. I didn’t see anything that looked like an operating room but doing research is their sort of thing. When I talked to Dr. Otis Thorn, he lied to me about seeing Prescott that night.”
David looked back at him. “It sounds like I should pay Dr. Thorn a visit and see if he is supernatural.”
“My Captain is not going to go for that unless we have other evidence on hand. Thorn had made a formal complaint before I even got back to my car. Clearly, he is hiding something, but unless we have proof, the SPD says he is untouchable.”
“Okay, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go after him. We won’t go making trouble unless we know more. Until then, who else do we need to check into?”
“Vice did give me the location on the Russian mob. I don’t see them with an operating room doing research, but they could have killed her to send a message. We could also have two killers: the one from Abby’s vision and someone that copied them for the killing of Prescott.”
Abby shook her head. “Nothing I saw in my vision suggested Russians in Seattle and how would they know what to copy? I think we should dig more into Thorn. He fits the vision much better.”
“Gwen?”
Gwen smiled. “Thanks, David. I thought you would never ask. Perry and I have searched the Marshals archives for Windigo. Normally they don’t have the surgical precision of the latest victim, but the teeth marks on the bones of both bodies are consistent with pictures taken of Windigo bites.”
“That shoots down the copycat idea.”
“The reports also suggest not trying to take one in alive. These are monsters, not people that can be cured. The only way to stop one is death and their body parts have to be burned to make sure it stays dead.”
Hammer looked a little pale. “Do the archives say anything about what one looks like?”
Gwen looked down at her report. “In their natural form, they tend to look gaunt like they are starving. When they eat human flesh, they grow larger, but are still thin and starving. It is impossible for them to ever eat enough. They have long claws, sharp teeth, and glowing eyes. Magic allows them to look Human when they aren’t feeding.”
“Thank you, Gwen. Hammer, you still in?”
Hammer looked a little paler. “I don’t know how you guys do it, but I don’t think I can stand aside and let some monster eat Seattle.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Missing
DAVID HARDLY TOUCHED his dinner. His hands were shaking. He didn’t want to let Abby see how far gone he was. The physical effort would soon be beyond him. It wasn’t this bad when he got up in the morning.
Dinner was over and Abby noticed David could hardly keep his head up. “You don’t look very good. Maybe you should go to bed early.”
“It’s nothing. I wish I had gone with Hammer to visit Thorn. I might have been able to at least rule him out if he was Human.”
“You sure? From what I can see, you are in no shape to be doing anything but resting.”
Abby was right. He wasn’t sure he could have told if Dr. Thorn was Human or not, with the way his abilities were leaving him. After looking at Abby, he couldn’t see her magical aura anymore.
“You win. I’m heading to bed.”
“Good, and unless you are better, you’re taking tomorrow off. Hammer and I can keep things moving for a day.”
The bed was soft, but David found no comfort in it. All he could think about was how fast he was falling apart. He had done a good job of hiding it, but that wouldn’t last much longer. It would be wrong for him to be in the field with others counting on him. The memory of Abby’s conversation with Kat haunted him. Was he really going to make her suffer taking care of him? He already knew his answer and came up with a plan.
Abby made him take the day off to rest while she went into work.
“Flower, I might need your help soon.”
“Protector, how can I help?”
“I’m going to try to change to my Coyote to see if it will help me heal, but I would not be very comfortable sleeping if I’m stuck wearing my dog vest.”
“Flower understands, will take it off. You no bite.”
“I promise I will not bite you. I’m not sure I can still change, so you may not have to worry about getting bitten.”
David went into the living room. It was now or never. Sitting on the floor, he closed his eyes and meditated on every aspect of being a coyote. The smell of his fur in the morning dew, the feel of the earth beneath his paws, the colors the coyote world was painted in, and then the most primal thing of all, he remembered every detail of the hunger he felt as a coyote on the prowl. The feelings flowed through him and he became a coyote, but something was wrong. Normally he was in control, but this time the coyote was in charge and he was just along for the ride. How was he going to change back? He stretched his sore body and was confused by the constrictions of the straps holding the K9 police vest to his body. A growl escaped his mouth and the scent of fear came from the other room. Padding into the kitchen, he found Flower cowering.
“Protector no bite!”
The fear coming off Flower was overwhelming, as he moved in to sniff her closer.
“No bite! Flower help as promised.”
With trembling hands, Flower reached the strap and removed the vest.
“See? Good doggie. No bite Flower.”
The feeling of relief was wonderful, as he shook his fur and rubbed on the side of the kitchen cabinets. The need for fresh air drove him to the back door. He growled at the closed door and scratched at it.
Flower came when he scratched. “Bad doggie, you rest now.”
The coyote scratched harder in response.
“You Protector. Flower open door.”
Darting through the open door, he ran outside and rolled in the grass. That felt good to his tired body. David could tell the coyote body still was affected by the virus, but it was less than before.
Time to rest and let things heal more. I mean it. We need to go back inside and rest to finish the healing process.
The coyote was hungry, and the scent of rabbits was in the air. The coyote left the backyard and headed to the greenbelt in search of the rabbits.
Listen! There is food in the house. We don’t have to do this.
The scent was too enticing for the coyote to pass up. Pushing his way through some blackberry vines, he entered the greenbelt and the path up into the Cougar Mountain wilderness. He found a place where a family of rabbits had been staying but they were nowhere to be found. The wind shifted and the scent was back. He trotted off in its direction. This was nothing like what David was expecting when he shifted. This was to trigger healing while he could still shift, not spend what little time and energy he had left stuck as a rabbit-hunting coyote. He had never fully lost control while shifted before. There was one time where the blood lust during his first battle as a jaguar got to him, but Abby quickly brought him back to his senses.
Tonight’s going to be cold and we don’t have a winter coat of fur. We need to go back to the warm house and dinner waiting for us.
The coyote stayed with the hunt but lost the scent. After sniffing around, he took off running. All of a sudden, the ground beneath his feet started crumbling and he fell down a hole created from his weight. It was dark, damp, and he was hurt.
See what you did? We fell down a sinkhole from an old collapsed mine. Give me control and we can change back and climb out.
No one knew where he was, and if anyone searched for him, they would have to be really lucky to be noticed here. Since he couldn’t communicate, would they
see anything more than a hurt coyote? Falling down a sinkhole trapped in a coyote body wasn’t a way he had expected to die.
Coyote, if you have any hopes of me staying your champion and killing the people-eating monster in your name, you need to help me now.
***
Abby and Hammer felt even stronger that Otis Thorn was the Windigo, but the team still had no proof. Abby decided to call it a night and go home to be with David. She had a bad feeling that something had happened.
The house felt empty. She called out, “Hello, I’m home.”
The level of panic rose up in her throat. “Anybody home?”
A room to room check didn’t find David, but she found Flower hiding in her closet.
“Flower, everything all right?”
Flower was shivering.
“It’s okay, tell me what happened.”
“Protector changed to dog and wanted out.”
“David shifted to a coyote and wanted out of the house?”
“Yes, Protector gone and not come back.”
“It’s okay, Flower. You were just doing as you were told. At least he shouldn’t be hard to track with his Marshals vest on.”
Flower looked at her feet.
“He still has the vest on, right?”
“Protector told me to remove it to be comfortable while he rested.”
“You’re not in trouble, Flower. Go to your people and see if they can find him.”
Flower nodded and ran from the room.
Ember, we need to find David ASAP. He is in his Coyote form.
We will find him.
David, where are you?
What a time to lose her ability to talk with him. She went into the backyard to look for tracks, but the only tracker she knew was the one she was looking for. Ember and the crows would find him. Coyotes can run more than thirty-five miles an hour when they want to, but normally only keep that speed for a couple of miles. He could have traveled a long distance by now. It was already dark and getting colder by the minute. Unlike a real coyote, David wouldn’t have a winter coat to keep him warm. For that to happen, he would have to basically live as a coyote for his hair to grow out. Being weakened by the virus, he was going to be in bad shape come morning.
Ember, any luck?
Sorry, crows have bad night vision, we might not find him until morning. Since I’m a spirit animal and not an actual raven, I’m doing better than the crows but there is a lot of ground to search.
There had to be something she could do! Maybe Grandfather had some magic she could use to help. She gave him a call.
“Hello, little fox. You must be troubled.”
Abby hoped that someday he would teach her how he always knew what was going on. He also knew she was upset. Her dad had called her his little fox and Grandfather only did that when she needed comforting.
“David is lost on Cougar Mountain as a coyote and I need to find him.”
“Yes, it is so. I see you will find him, but he will need your care to come back to himself.”
“Is there some magic I can use to locate him?”
“You must sleep to find him.”
“I can’t sit around doing nothing.”
“If you want to find him, sleep.”
“Thank you, Grandfather.”
“Yes, it is so.”
It took a moment, but she thought she understood what he was saying. She needed to sleep to allow for having a vision. Even if she knew where he was right now, there was little chance of finding him in the dark. Her only real option was to sleep. The bed felt empty without David. The smell of his pillow brought back good memories and she could use that to help guide her vision. It still left the fact that she needed to find a way to get any sleep.
Abby was standing in a forest next to a hole in the ground. A man approached her. It was the god, Coyote.
“You must help the champion and he must kill the monster.”
“I would love to do nothing more. Where is he?”
Coyote pointed at the hole. “He is trapped as a coyote down there. Get him out and back in the fight.”
“He was hurt by the Windigo and was fighting to get better. How do I fix that?”
“He will recover if he makes it out of the coyote.”
Before she could ask any more questions, Coyote turned and disappeared. The vision faded and she woke up in her bed.
Grabbing her cell phone, Abby called into the office and explained the situation to Gwen and asked for help. Gwen said she would rally the troops and meet her at the trailhead in an hour.
Ember, David is in a sinkhole somewhere. Focus on checking any holes big enough for a coyote to fall into.
We will let you know as soon as we find him.
No word yet from Flower or the Dogwood people. The Marshals would be here soon, and it would help if they had a direction to go look for David. She would have gone out by herself but getting a hurt coyote out of the bottom of a hole was something she couldn’t do alone. She had to wait for the team to show up. She walked down the street and over to the trail head. The Chief was the first to show up.
The Chief spread out a map on the hood of his SUV. “Gwen gave me the gist of the situation. Where do you think we’re looking for him?”
Abby looked down at the map. “He was last seen in the backyard here. He would have gone this direction through the backyards to get to the greenbelt and up the mountain. In the vision I had, David had walked across a sinkhole up in the forest someplace up here.”
He nodded. “It seems that he hadn’t gone as far as the cave holes or to the covered mine shafts. There was a lot of mining done here on Cougar Mountain and on Squak Mountain. There have been many sinkholes on Squak so I can believe there are some here on Cougar that haven’t been found.”
A second SUV drove up with Gwen and Perry in it.
“Abby, I’m so sorry about David. We’re here to help!”
“Thanks, guys. Let’s take a hike.”
Perry grabbed a couple of packs with gear they might need, and they started their hike. They still didn’t know exactly where to look, but they trusted Abby would see something from the vision or she would hear from Ember or the Dogwood People. It would have been nice to have to go the way David would have, but it wouldn’t have been easy for Humans to travel. The group left the trail after about a mile and headed into steep forest areas. The ground slid beneath their feet and Perry and Gwen slid forty feet down the hillside. A loud scream escaped Gwen’s lips as she hit a rock.
The Chief radioed, “Gwen, are you hurt? Perry?”
Perry radioed back, “Gwen is hurt and there is a lot of loose rock. Stay where you are.”
Abby could see Perry hovering over Gwen.
“Gwen has a bad sprain and will not be able to continue.”
“Can you get her back to the SUV?”
“Yes, but you’ll need my pack when you find him.”
The Chief removed his pack and pulled out some rope and tossed one end down to Perry who tied his pack to the rope. “Get Gwen back down the hill and get her checked out.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Chief retrieved the pack and handed it to Abby. “Let’s go.”
Abby nodded and took the lead and pushed though some trees to a cleaning where the ground leveled out.
I found David! I’m circling over the spot.
Using her connection to Ember, Abby looked though her raven’s eyes. It was the spot from her vision.
Find me and take us to the spot.
“Chief, Ember found him and should be here in a couple of minutes to show us the way.”
Abby spotted Ember just ahead. “There she is. Ember will lead us to the location.”
They followed Ember to a spot where the earth had crumbled away into a hole.
“Abby, don’t get too close. Let me tie a rope around a tree for safety.”
There was a climbing harness in her backpack and Abby put it on. The Chief tossed Abby the free end of th
e rope and she looped it through the harness and moved closer to the edge. Looking down, she saw a coyote that looked like David.
“David, if you can hear me, we’re coming.”
The coyote was moving with a limp and growling.
“David, if you can understand me, lay down.”
No response.
“Chief, the coyote doesn’t respond and is growling.”
He dug through his pack and pulled out a large pistol. “Don’t worry, it’s a tranq gun. If his healing is working, we’ll need to muzzle him while he’s under, so we don’t get bitten hauling him up. You ready?”
She nodded and he fired a dart into the side of the coyote. After a moment, the coyote fell over onto its side. There was just enough room to lower herself next to the coyote. A muzzle landed next to her feet and she slipped it on.
“Pick him up and I will pull you both out.”
With the coyote over one shoulder and one hand on the rope, Abby yelled, “Ready!”
He pulled them up to the surface. “Set him down and let’s get a harness and leash on him. I don’t think he’ll stay sedated very long. Animal rescue would do things differently, but this was the best we could do on short notice. Abby, do you have any connection to David right now?”