Dark of Night

by T. F. Walsh

  Ahead of us, a tall policeman staggered out from behind a break in the high fence, crossing the lane before heaving his breakfast. Connell retrieved surgical gloves from his pocket and handed me a pair. “Will you be okay for a moment? I need to tell them you’re here.”

  “Yep.” My inner wolf pressed on my insides. Not a good sign.

  Connell vanished behind the fence.

  With my eyelids shut, I focused on the aromas. Fresh timber, metallic blood, and a sugary tang combined into a horrible concoction. Beyond the initial smells, I caught the same scent from the other crime scene. It was the dracwulf, all right.

  Connell’s gentle voice reached me. “Are you going to be sick?”

  I opened my eyelids. His deep-blue shirt was a contrast against his pale cheeks, and I resisted the urge to reach over and touch him. “No, I’m fine.”

  “Ready to go in?”

  “Let’s get this over with.” And for once, I was glad I hadn’t eaten breakfast.

  We walked into the backyard, and I came to an abrupt halt. Strips of green and white fabric were scattered around the concreted yard. My gaze drifted toward two skeletal trees at the rear of the area. Red pieces clung to the branches, like the devil’s Christmas baubles. I skimmed the cement and found no body. Beneath a thick tree closer to the house, a number of bones were clumped into a mound, and flashes of flannel pajamas poked out from them. The man’s scalp lay near the heap, yet somehow his locks remained untainted by blood.

  Like the girl, he had been eaten alive. I fought back my gagging reflex. The messy trail traveled up the tree to an oversized branch, sodden in red. The man’s remains sickened me. My wolf retreated.

  If I had to guess, I would say the beast dragged the victim into the tree and gorged on him, discarding the scraps. Wolves wasted little meat from a kill, but they never climbed trees. Several oversized bloody paw prints stained the cement surrounding the remains and trailed toward the back of the yard. A black crow landed on the leftovers and pecked at the morsels. The nearest cop shooed it away.

  I inhaled and found the marking scent. Following my nose, I went to the far corner where dried rose stems lined the back fence.

  Connell joined me. “I’ve never heard of wolves climbing trees.” His voice teased on sarcasm. He looked over his shoulder. “And this is one mother of a wolf. Looks at its paw prints.” Connell wasn’t smiling, and his expression was tightening.

  “They don’t climb trees, but the same predator is responsible.” I showed him the faded wet stain on the wooden fence. “Wolves are notorious for marking their territory.”

  Connell’s raised eyebrow questioned my suggestion. “So you still believe it’s a single wolf, and the same one?” He removed his gloves.

  I peeled the latex off my hands. “Perhaps the last victim ran from the wolf, so it chased her. This guy was in his own backyard, most likely jumped on. The behavior doesn’t make sense, but yes, I do think it’s a single wolf. The paw prints make that clear. And the probability of two rogue wolves attacking in a similar manner is unlikely.”

  He gazed at me for a long while. “How well did you know Danu Illie?”

  I stiffened at his sudden interest in my work colleague. “As much as anyone at the institute. What’s this about?”

  “This is his house and his remains.” He glanced over to the tree and back.

  My hand flew to my chest. Was it a coincidence that I knew the last two victims?

  I couldn’t take another look at what was left of the guy who always worked longer hours than me, wore a smile despite losing his wife years earlier, and made me feel welcome from my first day at the institute. God, he didn’t deserve a death like that. I wiped my eyes.

  Connell’s voice brought me back from my thoughts. “When was the last time you saw him?”

  “Last week. We went into the woods to collect a couple of dead deer.” Perhaps the dracwulf watched me, sensed my wolf side and followed the guy. But what was the connection and why? I spent time with lots of people from work.

  “Daci, look at me.”

  I raised my head.

  “What’s going on?”

  How could I tell him anything? A dracwulf attacked and killed two people I knew. I wanted to believe it was by accident, except there was no convincing myself. “I need to go home.” My voice grew high-pitched.

  “Daci, please, I know it’s hard for you, but you have to see the next scene. I can’t let you go until you do.” He started to leave.

  I didn’t move at first and patted my pockets. No cell phone to call Sandulf. Did I really want to find out what Connell insinuated, and then have the cops believe I was involved? It was ridiculous of course, but drawing attention to myself was the last thing I needed. I tagged after Connell, throwing my gloves into the makeshift bin, deciding to rush over to the pack house after the next scene and demand Sandulf tell me what was really happening with the dracwulf.

  All the way to the car, Connell remained quiet, and we drove in silence toward the second crime scene. I slumped in my seat, fire clawing my stomach. Was Sandulf involved in the killings? He had to know about them. So why had he not stopped the animal?

  I was suffocating in the car, and the vanilla fragrance irritated my nose. I turned to watch the buildings and cobblestone streets pass us to distract myself. A world I might never be a part of again blurred past. A feeling of emptiness spread through me at the thought of not finding the elixir.

  Connell touched my thigh. “Are you okay?”

  I turned in my seat, bringing my knees up. “I’m not sure what to think. What are the chances of getting a few days to study the previous crime reports, and avoid trigger-happy shooters targeting anything that moves while I gather my thoughts?”

  “Let’s worry about that after the next scene.” A quick glance over, and I saw that he hid something from me. A secret. And it hit me. My gut dropped.

  “I’m not here to help you with the case, am I? I’m being investigated.”

  He said nothing for a long while. “With your connection to the victims, the chief questions your advice and refuses to accept it. He’s already demanded another specialist from the institute to help with the case. He’s informed your boss.”

  I swallowed the knot in my throat and couldn’t believe my expertise was being questioned. “How could I possibly be involved with these killings?”

  “I’m having enough trouble trying to work out where you spend your nights, but no, I don’t suspect you, and you’re not being investigated. I thought I’d bring you here in case you had some insight to share. A lead we missed.”

  “Why? If the chief doesn’t believe me, why bother?” I folded my arms and shook my head.

  His fingers pressed to his brow for a few seconds, and his gaze never left the road ahead when he spoke. “You picked up things at the first scene that helped, and I want to believe you’re not involved.”

  The words hurt. On some level, he didn’t believe me either. Things were getting worse, and the night of the transformation was days away. Unless I found the elixir, Connell was lost to me forever, along with my job and everything I’d built for myself in the past year.

  He took a sharp swerve onto a road barren of shops or houses. I gripped the door handle to steady myself. The street we traveled presented a back way to the rural districts where the fields expanded and villages hadn’t changed in two centuries.

  We sped past empty lots and suburbia without a word. The flat street continued ahead, and no other cars traveled alongside us. I guessed the police had shut the road. We neared a small farmhouse, which was the color of dead leaves. Wooden shutters protected the windows, and gray blotches marked the black roof tiles while a picket fence enclosed the home. Police cars congregated on the front lawn and one vehicle had its lights flashing, with no sound. Connell parked behind th
em.

  “We’re here.” He climbed out and slammed the door shut.

  The frostiness nipped my skin once outside, and my pulse thrummed for so many reasons. I followed Connell into the front yard and onto the porch. Autumn had peeled the fruit trees bare of leaves from the snow season approaching. I tasted winter, like a melting icicle on my tongue. The cops at the other end of the terrace shifted their attention in our direction, and resembled football players huddled before a game.

  Connell creaked open the front door, and a wall of smells hit me. Blood shoved forward first, then the reek of fermented cabbage. The main room easily accommodated five to six adults. With our arrival, the standing space became restricted. Hand-crocheted doilies decked the mustard-yellow couch, television, round dining table, and telephone.

  I tore my gaze away from the photos of the victim or the family and stared at the tiny kitchen. A young woman in a white lab coat held a transparent bag storing see-through containers with red fragments inside. Similar bags sat on the counter. Connell headed down the hallway. I slipped past the police officers to reach him.

  A female’s voice called out, “Inspector Lonescu, do you have a moment?”

  Connell and I turned to the officer collecting samples at the same time.

  He leaned closer to me, shoving latex gloves and booties into my hands. “The room is to your right. I’ll join you shortly.” Connell hurried into the living room.

  The flavors in the air teased my tongue, and my wolf stirred. My hands trembled as I pulled the latex gloves over my fingers and shoe covers over my boots. I stepped into the room, and my gaze fell on the atrocity. The bedroom carpet was plush beneath my shoes, though I couldn’t ignore the dracwulf smells assaulting my nostrils.

  I stooped over and couldn’t remember moving closer to the mess, yet I stood inches from the chaos. I backed into a wardrobe and tensed. The whispers from the police faded into the background, along with every other sound. Only my heartbeat reverberated in my head, faster and louder. The scene imitated the previous two attacks, except the bloodbath was contained within one room and the butchery appeared worse. Blood and fleshy chunks smeared the walls. Still fresh, the lumps of meat slid down the wallpaper at their own pace, and every now and then, a tiny movement on the wall caught my attention.

  Sandulf should be seeing this and lying to the police, instead of me, and maybe then he’d realize the danger the dracwulf posed to the pack.

  Unnerved, I stared in disbelief at the mangled human remains. Pillow feathers and broken glass speckled the bed. The area could easily be mistaken for a chicken slaughterhouse. The shattered window above the double bed delivered no fresh air to the room.

  Hard footsteps approached, and Connell’s rum fragrance found me. I stepped into the hallway, ripped off the gloves and booties, bunched them into a fist, and stuffed them into my pocket.

  Connell offered his hand, and I took it at once. He guided me through the crowded house, into the freezing outdoors and around the side of the house, away from the police officers.

  My inner wolf whined with hunger pains, and my insides craved for Connell’s touch. I inhaled the clean air, forcing myself under control. It took several more deep breaths to clear my mind.

  “Sorry I left you there. It’s horrible.” His hand held my shoulder, squeezing ever so lightly, and then traced the length of my arm.

  My mouth opened. No words formed. We were thrown into a difficult situation that pulled us apart, and I didn’t want to give up. He didn’t either. It was obvious in the way he looked at me. If he continued to believe in us, then we would get through this. What other options did we have?

  I turned and wandered farther down the path after picking up the scent of urine. The noise of Connell’s footsteps treading the dusty earth fell close behind.

  Dried grass coated the yard. A clothesline spun back and forth with the wind, and a chicken coop remained intact. Not a single bird chirped nearby. Everything fell silent. A red flag in the soft earth marked where an enormous paw print indented the muddy soil.

  Connell shifted closer. “It’s the large print again. This thing must be a monster wolf.”

  At first, I speculated whether he was being sarcastic, but the stern look on his face told me he wasn’t joking. He leaned in, hovering his palm over the footprint. “It’s bigger than my hand.”

  I faked a smile. If only he knew what prowled in the woods, he might never leave his house again.

  A breeze brushed past us, and I traced the scent back to a dried stain on the steps of the rear door of the house.

  “That stuff is toxic.” Connell wiped his nose. “How do you think the animal got across the city so fast? Could someone have driven it?”

  “What sort of question is that?” I gave a slight shake of my head. “It ran.” Such a dash wasn’t impossible for wolves or a dracwulf. Hunger or territory propelled this creature, and the attacks seemed calculated. Was my involvement calculated, too?

  Connell stared at the murky sky and rubbed his hands together for warmth. “Let’s head off to the station so I can give you the reports.”

  “Wait. The chief doesn’t want me involved, remember?”

  “He doesn’t need to know. I want the killings ended, and you might find something we’ve missed.”

  Every part of me screamed to walk away and let the chief suspect me. I’d then spend the next few days stopping the dracwulf and uncovering the elixir. Yet, the way Connell stared at me with those chocolate eyes made it impossible. Despite everything, he still believed in me. How could I turn him down?

  We made our way to his car and took off.

  “Did the house look familiar to you?” he asked.

  “No.” My breath jammed in my chest.

  “The victim was Ghiţă Tere.”

  A fluttery feeling swam through my stomach. I had worked with the guy, so it was official. The dracwulf had gone mad, killing only people I knew. Their lives stolen for no reason. The connection was me. But why? The numbness returned to my body.

  “I did a bit of research,” Connell said, “And found out Ghiţă supplies the institute with traps and snares.”

  “So? I could’ve told you that.”

  “Hear me out. Your boss told me you met up with Ghiţă earlier this week to set up traps in the woods. I also learned that Danu helped you collect dead deer from the woods last week. And you said you’d bumped into the first victim while driving to work in the forest.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “You spent time with each of the victims in the past week in the woods. Could someone be watching you and targeting people you’re with? But why only those with you in the woods? Maybe an animal … ” He gave a loud tsk. “Doesn’t make sense.”

  My breathing stopped. What if the dracwulf followed me and took out those people? But why? I didn’t even know the creature existed before today.

  “Who else have you spent time with in the woods over the last few weeks? Think.”

  I racked my brain, going over everything, and no one else from work came to mind. “No one.”

  Connell paused while he took a sharp turn down a side street. “I rang up Vasile and he said he doesn’t know if you were at work late during the last couple nights since he left early. He also confirmed he hadn’t seen Ghiţă for months, since the guy only deals with you directly and gets updates from your reports. This is why the chief is on your case. I want to help you, Daci, but you have to tell me where you’ve been spending your nights.”

  If they investigated me, I’d have no alibi for where I’ve been without bringing Radu into this, and that meant drawing attention to pack members who preferred to remain hidden from the human world. Plus, I’d have to prove where I lived previously, leaving me with no option but to go into hiding, leaving behind the man I loved.

 
Connell’s fingers drummed on the steering wheel. “You keep disappearing during the nights, and I only have your word to go on.” He reached over and caressed my leg. “Tell me you weren’t somehow involved.”

  “Of course I wasn’t.” I took a deep breath, and my stomach fluttered as I thought of Radu. Why hadn’t the dracwulf attacked him if we’d spent the last few nights together?

  Connell cleared his throat like something strangled him.

  I glanced over.

  He licked his lips. “I told the chief you were with me both nights to get you off the hook.”

  Chapter Six

  I was blown away by Connell’s confession. He had lied to the police for me, risking his career and everything he’d worked for, based only on my word. And despite the overwhelming love I felt from his actions, my insides shattered like glass. I couldn’t tell him the real truth, ever. I was the world’s biggest hypocrite. “Are you sure that’s what you want to do? I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

  “It’s done. Plus, I don’t want you to be interrogated as a criminal where I can’t protect you. This is why I need your honesty.”

  We drove in silence for a while. He soon pulled into the police station parking lot and leaned close. I guided his golden strands out of his mocha eyes. His sweet rum scent coated me as he kissed me in an urgent kind of way. Perhaps we both felt the uneasiness of our situation. After all, I’d dragged him into my mess. I melted against him, staying there until he pulled back.

  “I won’t be long.” He climbed out and hurried around the side of the building.

  The weight of guilt pressed down on me. I didn’t need another person to worry about as well as everything else. What if the dracwulf targeted Connell next? With the cops thinking I was involved, I couldn’t vanish into the pack house, especially if the police started the wolf searches in the woods. Sure, I might get away with it if I hid deeper in the forest, but that was not my intention and neither was losing my love.