Hunter's Trail (A Scarlett Bernard Novel)

by Melissa F. Olson

“What about you?” I asked Jesse. “Are you missing any big New Year’s plans right now?”

  “My parents usually throw a big party,” he said. “My brother Noah’s usually in town for it, and we team up and assault the food table.”

  “Noah’s the stunt double, right?”

  Jesse smiled. “Yes.”

  “Is it weird for you, that they all work in Hollywood and you don’t?” I asked.

  “Sometimes,” he admitted. “Mostly because they don’t understand why I wanted to be a cop. My mom, especially, was sort of hurt by it. She doesn’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to work in the movies.”

  “So why did you become a cop?” I’d brought up the topic idly, but I realized it was a pretty good question.

  Jesse looked away for a moment, thinking. “There was this detective,” he said slowly. “When I was a kid.”

  “Did he, like, solve the murder of your best friend or something?” I asked lightly.

  “It was my cousin,” Jesse said gravely.

  I must have looked horrified, because he laughed out loud, his face brightening. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” I smacked his arm, and he picked up the story. “No, I used to go to movie sets with my folks once in a while, you know, and once on a teacher in-service day, my dad had to take me to this preproduction meeting with him.

  “I was waiting in the reception area, with my Spider-Man comics, you know, and this guy walked in. You could just tell right away that he was somebody important. He had this . . . mmm . . .”

  “Presence?” I offered.

  Jesse snapped his fingers. “Yes, exactly. I just figured he was a movie star at first, but there was something different about him. A vibe, I guess. Anyway, he came and sat down with me, asked me about my comic books, and chatted with me a little bit. He was a homicide detective.”

  “What was he doing at the movie studio?”

  “Oh, he was there as a consultant. The movie Dad was working on was this cop drama, and this guy had come to advise them on the real-life procedures and things. They do it all the time.”

  There was a loose strand of black hair on his forehead, and for a second I could picture exactly what he’d looked like as a little boy, waiting for his dad with a big stack of comic books. “What did this guy say to you?”

  “He . . . ,” Jesse trailed off, caught in the memory, and started again. “It was something he said, exactly. The thing was, I had already seen so many cool things on movie sets: fake car accidents and space aliens and exploding buildings. And I figured out pretty early that there wasn’t anything you could do or imagine that couldn’t be faked by good filmmakers. And if anything could be faked, how did you know if something was real?” He looked at me for a moment.

  “And that detective wasn’t fake,” I prompted gently.

  Jesse took a breath. “No. He was real. And I wanted to do something real too.” Even in the streetlight, I could see his face color a little. “Of course, now I know that magic is part of the world, so I guess I don’t know what’s real anymore.” He looked forlorn for a moment.

  I leaned back in the seat. “Sounds like the guy made quite an impression on you,” I said gently.

  Jesse smiled wistfully. “He was . . . he was absolute. He just gave off this confidence and certainty, like there wasn’t anything that he couldn’t handle. He was really nice to me, friendly. But at the same time his eyes were just . . . scary.”

  “Would you say,” I began, straight-faced, “that he had lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes?”

  Jesse laughed out loud, and I felt the thrilling click of connection that you get when someone understands your movie reference. “You know, I might. Which I thought was cool.” He shrugged. “It’s just how cops look sometimes, I think. When you’ve seen enough of the things people do to each other, it just kind of takes over your face.”

  I studied him for a long moment. “You don’t look like that,” I mused. “Not yet, anyway.”

  “You do,” he said softly, and then looked surprised, like he hadn’t known he was about to say it. “Except sometimes, when there’s nobody from the Old World around, and you don’t think anybody is trying to get something from you, and you forget who you are.”

  My mouth dropped open, and tingles of surprise prickled through my nervous system as a long silence passed between us. Jesse was staring at me with just a hint of defiance, like he was daring me to say something real, certain that I couldn’t do it. But this time he was wrong.

  “I’m not a lost soul, Jesse,” I said quietly. “And I’m not an innocent. Nobody has done anything to me that I didn’t invite.”

  He looked indignant, which was sort of adorable if you thought about it. “Dashiell—” he began, but I held up a hand.

  “Dashiell is a vampire and he plays vampire games. Olivia was a psycho who made it her mission to fuck with my life. But it’s the scorpion and the frog story, Jesse.”

  “The scorpion kills the frog,” Jesse pointed out. “It isn’t the frog’s fault.”

  I sighed. “The dumbass frog should’ve just run like hell. Well, hopped like hell. Swam like hell? Whatever frogs do to get away, but really quickly,” I amended. “Instead he agrees to give a scorpion a ride across the river. He definitely deserves some of the blame.”

  “He didn’t choose to be a frog. And you didn’t choose to be a null,” Jesse reminded me.

  “True.” I fidgeted in my seat, unable to find a position that felt comfortable for my knee. I pretty much needed to give up on the idea that a comfortable position was even possible.

  Jesse was still looking at me expectantly. I sighed. “Look, when I was eighteen, something happened to me that wasn’t fair. But I chose to fuck around with the wolf pack. I invited all this.” I waved a hand.

  A shadow passed over his face, and I was about to ask him about it when my phone began vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out and squinted at the screen, which seemed extra bright in the dimness of the car. It was Jack. I pushed the button to ignore the call. He was probably just calling to wish me a happy New Year’s, but he’d want to know what I was doing, and I couldn’t tell him.

  I turned my head and saw Jesse regarding me with a frown.

  “What?” I said.

  “Do you ever get sick of hiding things from him?” Jesse asked.

  “Yes,” I said wearily. “Do you ever get sick of poking me about how I live my life?”

  “No,” Jesse answered promptly.

  There was silence in the car for a long time after that.

  Chapter 21

  Around ten, Scarlett dozed off, and Jesse let her. He was used to the long hours of staring at nothing, and she wasn’t. Besides, she seemed like she needed the rest. The last few months were taking a toll on her. He saw it in the hollows under her eyes, the pallor of her face, not to mention the knee that was visibly swollen under her yoga pants. He suspected that her knee was worse than she was letting on, or maybe worse than she was admitting to herself. Maybe it had been selfish of him to bring her along. He could have watched Will’s house without her.

  He considered driving her back to her van, but Jesse was afraid that if he did leave, even briefly, that would be the moment the nova wolf chose to dump the next body. Jesse didn’t want to miss the chance to stop him from hurting anyone else. And if the nova wolf was really so powerful, he would want Scarlett along to turn it human again.

  Besides, she looked like she was finally resting now. After a while, he reached over and pulled the fleece pullover up to cover her lap better. His hand brushed Scarlett’s as he was pulling his arm back, and Jesse was startled at how cold her fingers were. He twisted the key to run the car’s heater for a while before leaning over to put his arm around her, pulling her close to him. She mumbled a sleepy thanks, tucking her hands under her arms for warmth, and he felt a rush of tenderness for her. Since first finding out about the Old World, Jesse’s experiences there had been so connected to his relationship with Sca
rlett that he forgot sometimes that she was technically human. She’d gone up against things that were more powerful than she was, and her very best weapon only leveled the playing field for a short time. It wasn’t fair. He pressed his lips to her hair for a moment. Then Jesse settled back to watch the entrance to Will’s house, leaving his arm still tucked around Scarlett.

  Hours passed. The alpha had left his porch light on, but the little street was quiet, even on New Year’s Eve, and Jesse wondered idly if the whole street took vacations at the same time. He turned the car’s heater on whenever it got too chilly and sipped Diet Coke to keep himself awake.

  By two in the morning he desperately needed to urinate and decided it was time to give up for the night. He wasn’t really surprised that they hadn’t managed to catch the nova, but he was disappointed anyway. It would have been nice to get a break in an Old World case. For once.

  Jesse had already retracted his arm from Scarlett’s shoulders and was about to start the sedan when he decided he wasn’t going to make it all the way home without peeing. “Scarlett,” he said, and she made a sleepy annoyed noise at him. “Scarlett!” Jesse said again, shaking her shoulder a little.

  “What?” she mumbled.

  “I’m going to go . . . uh . . . well, I’m gonna go pee in the woods real quick,” Jesse said sheepishly. “Then we should go. He’s not coming tonight.”

  “’Kay,” Scarlett replied drowsily. She hadn’t even opened her eyes.

  Jesse got out of the car, leaving the keys in the ignition in case she needed to run the heater again. He circled Will’s house, heading for the trees. It’s too quiet up here, Jesse thought, as he relieved himself. And damned cold, for Southern California. He zipped up and stretched out his neck, feeling stiff from the long stakeout.

  Because of the silence, Jesse had no trouble catching the sound of movement far off in the woods. He froze, his head still bent at an angle, and listened. It had just been a rustling, but fast, like someone had thrown a rock through the trees. Jesse had spent his whole life in the city and had no idea if this was a normal sound for the forest or not. Maybe a big bird?

  But no, the sound was coming again, from somewhere lower. He thought of the nova, and his hand went to the gun on his right hip. He was carrying the nine-millimeter Glock, loaded with the silver ammunition.

  Now the sound was even closer, and it seemed . . . spread apart. More than one animal? Jesse peered into the woods, unnerved by the total darkness. He took a few steps backward on the lawn, back toward the lights of the house. Then he heard rustling again, much closer now. Jesse lifted his gun and took aim at the woods. Whatever it was, it was coming fast.

  A huge wolf exploded into the clearing, and Jesse almost shot it dead on pure reflex. It was charcoal-colored from nose to tail, an efficient running machine that didn’t even slow down as it took in Jesse’s presence. He had seen wolves at the zoo, but those topped out at maybe eighty pounds. This one looked to be nearly twice that, and his finger instinctively tightened on the trigger. But Jesse understood immediately that if he took a shot, it would miss. The wolf was just too fast. Besides, it was moving away from Jesse. He wasn’t in danger, and he couldn’t be sure this was the nova.

  Jesse forced himself to take a breath in and out, relaxing his hand on the gun when the second wolf burst out of the woods, and he almost fell down from the shock. This wolf had more traditional coloring: it was a dusky tan that faded down its legs into white paws. Impossibly, it was even bigger than the first, two hundred pounds or more. Jesse had a sense of immense power, of gorgeous, kinetic grace. Then he realized the new wolf was favoring one leg, and that there was a series of long rusty stripes down its body that didn’t seem natural—blood. It was bleeding.

  The tan wolf paused in its chase to look at Jesse. Jesse’s stomach twisted with cold fear as the tan wolf gazed calmly at him. It wasn’t growling or anything, but it was so goddamned big that Jesse felt a rush of stupidity. What was he doing out here with this creature? He raised his gun automatically, and now the animal’s lip curled up, a growl starting in the back of its throat. Its canine teeth were enormous, almost as long as Jesse’s thumb. It moved laterally to put itself between Jesse and the charcoal wolf, which had stopped too, a few hundred feet away. With its enemy distracted, the charcoal wolf began to creep back in the direction of its pursuer.

  Shit. Jesse didn’t know how intelligent the werewolves were in their other form, but it seemed like the tan wolf understood the gun. Very slowly, he put the gun back in the holster, hoping to pacify the big tan wolf, who must surely be . . . Will? Jesse cursed himself for not thinking to get pictures of the wolves in the LA pack. As his gun went down, the tan wolf’s growling softened, though it kept its eyes fixed on Jesse. The charcoal wolf saw an opportunity and leapt at its pursuer with the total, determined commitment of hunters. The enormous tan wolf sensed the leap and instantly turned to meet the charcoal wolf as it crashed into him with unnatural speed and power.

  The two werewolves were a blur of dark and light movement, like animal fights in those old Looney Tunes cartoons, where there was just a cloud of gray smoke and the occasional paw or tail sticking out. Jesse jumped back to avoid being trampled, trying to make out what was happening in the weak light from Will’s porch. The tan wolf was trying to protect itself, but not really attacking its smaller opponent with any seriousness. The charcoal wolf, on the other hand, was enraged, launching forward to snap at the other wolf’s legs and hindquarters. The tussle took both animals a few yards away from Jesse, and he began to edge back toward the car.

  But before he’d gone very far, the wolves separated and the charcoal one let out a hacking bark of frustration. Then it froze, blinking, and Jesse was struck by how eerily human the gesture was. The werewolf had an idea. It wheeled around, snarling, and made a sudden beeline for Jesse.

  “Shit!” Jesse yelled, scrabbling for his gun again. He got it out but couldn’t get the safety off before the charcoal wolf had two paws on his chest.

  Jesse went down hard, instinctively dropping the gun as he brought his arms up to protect his head. He felt the werewolf’s jaws clamp down on his raised forearm in the same moment, and cried out with pain. The charcoal wolf just bit deeper.

  The tan wolf hit the charcoal wolf with a rolling tackle, but the smaller wolf had a perfect lock on Jesse’s arm, and it dragged Jesse with it as it rolled, wrenching his forearm in its jaws. He screamed with the pain as he was flipped sideways, nearly landing on his attacker. The charcoal wolf slipped nimbly out from under him and stepped right onto his goddamned chest, the unexpected weight making him gasp. It never let go of his arm.

  Suddenly, the sharp pop of a gunshot exploded in the night. Jesse felt the charcoal wolf’s jaw loosen its grip with surprise, and both of them looked toward the source of the sound. Scarlett was on the lawn in front of them, silhouetted against the house lights, her hand extended in the air. She had his service Beretta raised toward the sky, and was grimacing with pain. Jesse didn’t see her cane anywhere.

  “What the fuck,” she said, her voice ragged but calm, “is going on here?”

  Chapter 22

  Jesse grinned with relief. Scarlett lowered the gun to her side and began limping toward them, taking little hopping steps and dragging her bad leg behind her. The charcoal wolf snarled with frustration and launched itself off Jesse, forcing a little oof of pain out of him as it pushed off his chest. Then it raced back toward the woods, leaving Jesse and the tan wolf alone in the yard.

  Jesse staggered to his feet to go help Scarlett, but there was a sudden movement to his right, and by the time he turned his head Jesse could see a very human Will, stark naked, rolling to his feet. Without even looking at Scarlett, Will squared off opposite Jesse and demanded in a panting voice, “Did it break the skin?”

  “Huh?” Jesse looked down and realized he was clutching his forearm. It throbbed with hot pain, but he didn’t see any blood. He held it up, angling himself so he could inspec
t the arm in the dim light. The thick leather of his jacket had caught the werewolf’s teeth—one or two had gone all the way through, leaving perfect little holes in the leather, but the shirt underneath it was okay. “No, my jacket stopped it,” he said, and Will’s shoulders sagged with relief.

  It was only then that Jesse understood the alpha’s anxiety. “Wait, could I . . . could he have turned me into a werewolf just now?”

  “She,” Will said wearily. He’d dropped down onto the lawn, sitting with his elbows propped on his knees. The shadows hid most of his body, but his nudity didn’t seem to concern him anyway. “That was Anastasia. And it’s unlikely that one bite would have changed you . . . but yeah. It was possible.”

  “Oh,” Jesse said. He didn’t really know what else to say.

  Scarlett took one last hopping step to Jesse and held out the gun without a word. He accepted it. A glance passed between them, and then Scarlett looked away. Jesse realized how much it must have cost her to get the gun out of the glove compartment, knowing she might have to use it against someone. “Thanks,” he said quietly. Meaning it.

  Without meeting Jesse’s eyes, Scarlett looked down at the alpha. “Will, you okay?” she asked. The concern in her voice made Jesse squint at Will again. The alpha was still breathing heavily, and he had a long, shallow tear down his side that was oozing blood.

  “I thought you healed when you changed form,” Jesse said stupidly.

  Will smiled briefly, obviously in pain. “A normal change boosts my magic, which boosts the healing.” He tilted his head at Scarlett. “But this time she forced the change—thank you, by the way.” Scarlett nodded. “So I didn’t get the extra healing.”

  “Oh,” Jesse said again, feeling like an idiot.

  Will rose unsteadily to his feet. “Detective, if you would please take Scarlett inside,” he said. “The back door’s unlocked. I’ll grab some clothes and join you shortly. We can talk then.”