Timeless Moon

by C. T. Adams

  He made a show of stretching slowly and taking a good look around, then deliberately dropped his keys so that he could squat down close to the ground. He needed a better look to see if what he thought he was seeing in the mud at the edge of the parking lot was actually there.

  Those were paw prints on this side of the gully alright, and they were just the right size and shape for a bobcat. And on the far side was clawed ground and loose soil where the bank had given way beneath her.

  But more worrisome by far were the other tracks. The prints of male boots, sunk deep into the muck, half-filled with water, didn’t cover or erase the obvious tracks of multiple large snakes. They’d been chasing her. She’d left on foot, not by car!

  His stomach in knots, he forced himself to stroll casually across the parking lot to the office. The feel of the Glock in its holster at the small of his back was a comfort. He didn’t want to have to use it, but it felt good having a clip full of silver bullets with him.

  Pulling open the office door he was greeted by the ringing of a bell. The cloying sweet smell of roses overwhelmed his nose so that he could scent nothing else. Two dozen long-stemmed red roses in a large crystal vase took up most of the counter space. He had to peer over them to see Ellen. He could smell the older woman who’d checked him in just beyond the next wall, so he kept his voice light and pretended not to know her.

  “Good afternoon. The flowers are lovely.” He gave her his best smile, but he could feel her nervousness. Combined with his own nerves, it made him feel as though his skin might start twitching at any moment. But he kept up the charm, even pushing a little emotion the girl’s way so she could relax.

  “They’re not mine. They’re for Ms. LaRue. We left a message for her, but she hasn’t come to get them yet.” She said the words very pointedly and motioned with her eyes. He nodded and moved his fingers as though writing. She got the hint and handed him a pad and pencil without making it obvious. A door in the next room closed, but he couldn’t tell if someone had arrived or left.

  Rick felt a sudden stab of irrational jealousy over the flowers, even though he knew it was probably the method the snakes had used to find her room number. It took effort to school his expression and voice to sound charming. “Looks like you get to enjoy them for awhile.”

  In plain block letters, he wrote: “Did Josette leave in her car?”

  “Oh, and I will.” The girl’s eyes widened and she struggled to keep the fear from her voice. She did a fine job of making it sound light and friendly. She wrote on the pad in frantic cursive, “No. Men, Mexican accents, hot-wired and stole it. I’m worried.”

  He nodded as he read but kept up the act. “I’m in Room 104. I’ll be checking out. Do I need to sign anything if I pay cash?”

  Rick pulled the wallet from his pocket and withdrew a wad of bills. At that very moment the back door to the office opened and Ray Harris stalked in. He smelled of chemicals, greed, and rage.

  The girl’s panic hit Rick like a blow, so hard that he had to put his hand on the door to steady himself. Her eyes pleaded with him to say nothing. Not hard, he wasn’t positive he could speak around the lump her terror had formed in his throat.

  “Where’s your mother?” The man loomed over the girl, his expression thunderous.

  “I think she just went to go clean a room, Dad She’ll be right back.” Her voice took on an irritating whining quality Rick had only ever heard from teenagers who weren’t quite bold enough for open defiance.

  The man glowered. Rick could see the muscles in his jaw clench, his hands ball into fists.

  “What’re you starin’ at buddy? Does this look like it’s any of your business?”

  No. It didn’t But Rick didn’t like the thought of leaving Ellen here. Josie had been right. This was only going to get worse. He hoped that Raven arrived soon, because the man was obviously eager for a fight. Once Rick was out the door, there would be nothing stopping him from taking his emotions out on the girl cowering behind the desk.

  “Daddy, please! He’s a guest He’s just checking out of 104.”

  The man’s lips pressed into a thin line, but his hands relaxed, and his scent and emotions both calmed marginally. “Fine. What room is your mom in? I need to talk to her.”

  “Probably 107. They called earlier asking for more towels.”

  Rick watched the man turn on his heel and leave the way he had come. When he heard the door slam behind the other man, he turned to the girl, hoping to finish the conversation they’d started. But she stopped him.

  “You’d better go quick.”

  He nodded, but then pulled the deck of cards from his pocket. He’d taken the time at the airport to make copies of them. He hadn’t planned on giving them back, but Ellen didn’t need any excuse to get hurt before Raven arrived. “Here. I took these from your room the other night. When you didn’t show up here—” He let the rest drop off when he noticed the nearly dizzying relief from Ellen.

  “Oh, thank God! I was afraid I’d lost them and you wouldn’t get to see them. I’ll put them somewhere so Dad can find them. He’ll just think he was drunk and was playing with them.” Her face hardened. “He’s drunk most of the time any way. I can’t wait until I get my wings. I can feel them, just under my skin. And then I’ll be gone—I’ll leave here and never come back. But I’ll be fine for the moment. Please, go. Find Josette and keep her safe. She’s been so nice to me. You might check the train stations. One came by right about the time they were taking her car. I didn’t call the police, because I wasn’t sure if you guys wanted that.”

  “Thank you. We are sending some people down. They’re not the police, but they can help. The first one that will probably arrive is named Raven. He’s bigger than me with long dark hair. He rides a motorcycle, too. Talk to him. You can trust him.” There was no time to say any more. He left, but he felt like a heel doing it. Something was definitely up here, but he was pretty sure it didn’t have anything to do with Josette’s disappearance. She’d been right—the snakes were after her.

  As he walked out of the office he heard muffled shouting. It seemed to be coming from room 107. Big surprise, Rick thought sourly. He tried to ignore the voices as he crossed the parking lot to his bike, but it was impossible. There were too many emotions beating at him from the people inside that room, all of them powerful and so mixed together that it was impossible to tell where one started and another left off.

  “I told you not to leave her alone. Not for a minute. The full moon’s in a couple of days, damn it! They’ve sent the stuff via Albuquerque, but if you let her run off somewhere we’re liable not to find her until it’s too late.”

  “She’s right there in the front office, Ray. It’s not like she’s going anywhere! Even if you’re right—and I don’t think you are—it’s going to be fine.”

  “Oh, so I’m just being stupid. Stupid ole Ray, can’t tell his ass from a hole in the ground.”

  “I didn’t say that!” The woman sounded frightened, but had the same streak of defiance as Ellen.

  “No, but you’re thinkin’ it.”

  “I was not! God you are so…”

  “So what?”

  “Paranoid. You’re so damned paranoid. You see problems coming at you from every shadow. It’s those damned drugs. I hate what they do to you. I hate it!”

  “You mean you hate me. That’s what you’re really saying.”

  She let out an inarticulate shout of rage and frustration before saying. “Will you just stop! I can’t stand this anymore. Just…go…get away from me. Go hang out with Ron and the rest of them down at that goddamned meth lab and stay away from me and Ellen until you have control of yourself. None of us want to deal with you when you’re like this.”

  A semi passed by on the road, the noise covering the sound of the argument. A moment later Ray burst from the room. Slamming the door, he stormed across the parking lot and climbed into a dirty four-wheel-drive truck. The engine roared to life. He threw the truck into ge
ar and, tires squealing in protest, the vehicle zoomed out of the parking lot and was gone.

  Rick stood still for a long moment, taking slow breaths, letting the man’s rage, which had flooded into him, flow slowly outward to ground itself in the muddy earth surrounding the parking lot. When he was back in control, feeling only his own emotions, he went to work following Josette’s trail.

  He crossed the road, prowling the edge of the open field until he found a partial paw print nearly obscured by boot prints and snake markings. Heart in his throat, he kept at it. There were few traces of Josette. It was easier by far to follow the trail of her pursuers, who hadn’t even attempted to hide their passing.

  Across the way, he could see a woman standing outside a small restaurant next to a wheeled bin with cleaning supplies. She was smoking a cigarette and watching him, her eyes avid with curiosity. Just what he needed. Not that he blamed her. Strangers to town generally didn’t just start wandering through wet fields for no good reason. He began calling out the first name that came to mind, acting for all the world as if his beloved pet had run off. “Pierre,” he shouted. “Here boy. Where are you? Pierre, come!”

  He turned to look at the woman, calling out. “Have you seen my dog? He’s a Doberman pinscher, about so tall…” He gestured with his hand, making sure he made the size suitably imposing. He didn’t want to risk her offering to help with the search.

  “No,” she called back. “Sorry. Good luck finding him.” She gave a friendly wave before dropping the cigarette butt onto the pavement and grinding it out with her toe. He watched long enough to see her walk into the restaurant’s back door, waiting to resume his search until she was safely inside.

  He continued calling the dog’s name sporadically as he followed the trail in a nearly straight line across the field. It was miserable work. The ground was rocky and uneven. It was sandy in some places, in other spots the mud sucked at his boots like an eager mouth. Scattered around was the kind of litter and junk that always seems to accumulate in empty lots.

  The rain had brought out biting insects, too. They buzzed annoyingly around his head. He didn’t know, or care, what they were, just wished they’d go the hell away. Of course they didn’t. They buzzed right along with him as he followed the trail to the top of a small rise. The soil here was more what he had expected, sandy enough that it was firm and already starting to dry. The tracks changed, too. Instead of the deep impression of her toes digging deep as she shoved off of the ground there were lighter treads. She’d stopped here. There weren’t many of her paw prints that hadn’t been spoiled by her followers, but there were enough to give him hope. She’d been far enough ahead of them to stop for a second to rest and take a look around. He straightened up, turning in a slow circle, searching for anything that might have caught her eye. There, in the distance he saw the unmistakable pole with crossed boards that indicated a railroad crossing. Ellen had said a train passed.

  In Josie’s place, he’d have made a run for a moving train if the car wasn’t available. He bent down, examining the grass. Sure enough, the trail led that way.

  Attagirl Josie. He hurried forward, following the trail. Sure enough, it ended at the gravel. And no matter how far up or down the line he went, he found no further bobcat tracks on either side of the rails.

  Chapter Fourteen

  JOSETTE WOKE TO the scent of rare steak and freshly brewing coffee. Eyes still closed, she took a deep whiff. Beneath the mouthwatering scents of breakfast she could smell a Sazi presence, and the trace of another one lingering on everything. The latter was a cat, perhaps a jaguar. The former was a wolf she knew very well indeed.

  “Raphael Ramirez.” She spoke the name out loud as she opened her eyes.

  In some ways he looked just as she remembered him, a handsome, well-built Latino with softly curling hair and deep dimples when he smiled. But there were differences as well. Laugh lines were beginning to form at the corners of his eyes, and his scent was deeply content. Marriage obviously agreed with him, as did his new pack.

  “Aspen Monier,” he replied with a grin that lit up his handsome features and dissipated the heavy pall of worry that was thick in the air. “You’re awake.” He sounded relieved and utterly weary.

  “I’m going by Josette LaRue now.” She kept her tone light so he would know she was joking when she continued. “And don’t sound so surprised. I’m tougher than I look.”

  “I don’t doubt it for a minute.” He put a laden plate and huge thermal coffee mug onto the wooden coffee table in front of the sofa she’d been resting on. It actually smelled good enough that she found the energy to sit upright.

  “Not that I’m complaining, but how did you find me?” She began cutting the meat into delicate bite-size chunks as she spoke.

  “You got lucky. When Wolven crashed the system they notified the alphas of every wolf pack that stranded agents might need aid. I posted some of my people at the airports, bus and train terminals—just in case.” His expression sobered, and worry once again rose in the air. “You were unconscious and fading fast At one point, your heart actually stopped. Fortunately, Betty Perdue joined our pack recently. She’s one hell of a healer. She recognized what was happening to you, started doing CPR and contacted me.”

  Josette blinked with shock. Raphael was, very delicately, telling her that she’d died. It shouldn’t have been possible. “What happened?”

  Raphael ran a palm over his scalp, smoothing his hair. It was a nervous gesture she remembered from when he’d been with Amber, and from her visions of him. It made her smile. Some things might change, but others just didn’t.

  He spoke slowly, as though he was having to search for the right words to describe what he wanted. “When I kill by touch I create a magical bond with a person—or use an existing bond, and pull the magic out of their bodies, letting it drain out onto the ground. It’s not a common gift, and it’s not easy. I have to be touching them and have some sort of bond with them to do it. Somebody was able to do the same thing to you at a distance.” The look he gave her showed just how much that worried him. “I’ve never even heard of that. If you’d asked me, I’d have said it wasn’t possible.” He shook his head. “I was able to break the connection and you revived. But it was a damned near thing.”

  Lucky indeed. She’d survived, when even her own lack of visions had predicted otherwise. Moments like this made her seriously wonder if there really was a higher power. She hoped so, and hoped that he or she was on her side. Because she was going to need all the help she could get to connect back up with Rick and get to Charles and the other seers in time to save them—if it wasn’t already too late.

  “How long was I unconscious?”

  “Honestly, I’m not sure. We brought you here a little over an hour ago. Betty stayed long enough to make sure you’d be all right, then left. She had to get to work. She’s opening a new practice down here, and they’re moving her furniture down from Denver.” He admitted. “But if it helps, it’s 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, and tonight is the first night of the full moon.”

  “Oh, thank God!” She started to leap to her feet and wound up right back on her fanny as her vision dimmed and a wave of dizziness hit her.

  “Sit. Eat,” he ordered. “You’re not going anywhere until you do. You came damned close to dying. Your body will heal, but you need food and rest. You won’t be any good to anyone if you don’t.”

  “I don’t have time,” she snarled, but her heart wasn’t in it. He was right, damn it. She felt weak as a newly birthed kitten, and ravenous as a half-starved lion—which made sense, since she was half lion. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to calm down. “I’m sorry. I really do appreciate everything you’re doing, but I’m in the middle of a crisis. If I don’t meet Rick Johnson and go find Bruce Levin at the Grodin airport, they’re going to go to where I was—and walk right into a trap.” She closed her eyes, trying to bring her talent to bear, force it to show her what she wanted to see. Nothing. It was as if she we
re completely head blind. “Can you get me a phone and the number for the airport while I finish this food?”

  “Of course.” Raphael pulled a cell phone from the back pocket of his jeans, punched in the number for directory assistance, and requested the information she wanted. When the recording offered the option of connecting the call, he took it, and passed the phone to her waiting hands. “I’d heard Johnson was dead.”

  Josette gave a little growl between bites. “So did I. Believe me, I’ve been giving him hell about it.”

  Raphael gave a snort of laughter. The scent of his amusement rose off him in a visible mist. “I’m sorry I missed it.” He gave her a wicked grin. “I’ve got a picture of the last man you ‘gave hell’ to.”

  Josette sighed. Lucas had been a very busy man indeed. If she’d known he’d take and distribute photos of Ahmad and his men plastered to the ceiling to every shifter she knew, she might have reconsidered doing it. Or not. Ahmad had, after all, been even more snide and condescending than usual. God, but he could be an ass!

  Raphael was chortling as he walked out of the room. She heard him open a door down the hall. It sounded like he was rummaging through a dresser, but she couldn’t be sure. Still, when he returned a moment later he was carrying a bundle of clothing topped with a pair of flip-flops. Bending over, he set them onto the coffee table next to her plate.

  “I don’t hear any talking.” He observed.

  “I’m on hold.”

  “Ah, in that case…” He plucked the phone from her hand and put it to his ear. “Eat.” He glared at her. “Your food is getting cold.”

  “Yes sir.” She cut a large chunk of rare meat away from the bone and put it in her mouth. She took a minute to savor the flavor. It was perfect, absolutely marvelous: rare enough to be bloody, but warm, with just the hint of mesquite smoke. He must have cooked it on the grill. It was a thoughtful thing to do. But Raphael had always been exceptionally kind to her. She knew she made him nervous, especially since he’d managed to single-handedly turn the entire Monier family against one another. But he was nice to her anyway. She appreciated that more than he probably realized.