Meanwhile, I’m just as heated, even if I’m freezing from the rain that has thankfully stopped by now. “Blake Damon,” I spit out.
He snorts. “You need to learn your place.”
“Why are you here, Rex?” I ask, mimicking his stance by crossing my own arms.
“You’re mine, now. Whatever mess you’re embroiled in, I inherit.”
“I’m not embroiled in a mess!” I protest.
He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Just tell me what happened.
The rookie and his partner arrive. I make Rex wait until they approach to tell what I saw. Well, most of what I saw. I neglect to mention that I left Frank Ivy possibly before he died to chase down the wolf. Likewise, I don’t share that the wolf disappeared and a nondescript man left the cave the wolf entered.
Wolf. Man. Howling. Attacks. Murders.
First vamps, now…
No. Werewolves aren’t real. People can’t shapeshift! People can’t turn into wolves or any other animal. It’s not possible. I refuse to believe!
Of course, I said the same about vamps at first…
I give my statement, ignore Rex, watch as Frank Ivy is zipped up in a body bag, and then I leave. I’m too tired to stand, so I opt for a quick washing and then a bath. It’s not relaxing, not even with scented candles and music. I’m uptight, on edge, and I need something to calm myself down.
Toweling myself off, I stare at myself in the mirror. I almost don’t recognize myself. My wet hair doesn’t look blond, and my eyes are haunted, brown and disturbed. The black smears beneath my eyes are heavy, making me almost look like a ghoul. My cheekbones are more prominent than ever before, probably because I’ve been losing a little weight.
Since the first vamp attack, I haven’t been taking the best care of my body. I’ve been working out as hard as before, lifting weights or taking a few karate classes a week or the cage fitness. Unfortunately, my diet has been poor and my sleep so erratic. I need more food to fuel me and more sleep so I can have energy. Right now, I’m dragging, just going through the motions.
Sleep is calling me. I desperately want to ignore it and press on, but I make the hopefully smart decision by resting.
The moment I lie down and close my eyes, I’m asleep. I swear, the next second, I’m awake again. It’s just before dawn. The clouds have rolled away. For better or worse, I return to the cave before I’m due to report at the station. A light mist rolls along the ground, leading me there. Thankfully, it’s not heavy and deep and oppressive, like the vamp kind. It’s the sweet kind, like after a pleasant rain shower. It’s the same one that, as a kid, I used to think would make fairies burst out into song and dance.
I’m not nervous at all, which is kinda strange. I should be. After all, I saw a wolf attack a man, kill him, and then the wolf disappeared inside a cave. A man later came out. Why hadn’t the wolf attacked that man? Yes, of course, the thought crosses my mind that the wolf and the man are one and the same. Seriously, I do not want to go there. I don’t even want to consider it. Werewolves? No! Just no!
The cave—the huge hole gored into the side of a hill—is dark and mossy. It smells like dampness, almost jungle-like. A few vines drape against the sides of the opening, and I release them. They swing back and forth, almost like a vine-curtain or door. Hm… that doesn’t strike me as natural at all. Manmade without a doubt. Why? Has that man been living here? Is this a hideout of some kind?
The interior of the cave is too dark, even as the sun rises, illuminating the world. Shadows alone darken the world within the cave, and my flashlight banishes them all away in quick order.
All I have time to see is the sight of glistening fangs, a furry snout… All I have time to hear is the howl of a wolf and my own screams…
I wake with a start. Oh, man, that had been way too lifelike, especially because I glance out my window to see that it’s just before dawn.
Should I stay put? Go into the station early? Figure that a nightmare is just my subconscious preying on my fears and go check out the cave anyhow?
I change into jeans, a sweatshirt, and boots, heat up a healthy breakfast sandwich, and call up Diego. He picks up immediately, so I have to quickly swallow a bite before I can ask, “You up?”
“No, I always answer calls at ungodly hours of the day in my sleep,” he says grumpily.
“Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”
“Something like that. What’s up?”
I kinda want to ask what’s going on. Nah. It’s better to not get involved emotionally, at least not more emotionally than I already am. “Wanna go on a field trip with me?”
“Is that code—”
“No.”
He sighs. “I guess. Where do you wanna meet up?”
“Come here. Bring your gun.”
“I never go anywhere… where are we going? Do I need silver bullets?”
“Maybe.”
“I only have one left.”
“Me, too. Hurry up.”
“Yes, mistress. Sheesh.” He hangs up.
What’s his deal? I hope he’s awake for this. Who knows what we’ll find, and if we do find that wolf…
I love animals. I used to have a dog. A Saint Bernard. An adorable little puppy that grew up to be a monster of a dog. He ate me out of house and home, but I didn’t care. The only thing with Saint Bernards is that they don’t live long. He was only six when he died. Got sick one day. I was able to get an appointment with the vet the very next day, but he died in his sleep that night. Ripped my heart apart. Some people can go out and a get another dog the next day, the next week, the next year. Tiger died five years ago. Four years before that, my parents died. I just couldn’t bring myself to get close to another pet that would die eventually. I just couldn’t.
But if it comes down to a human or an animal, even a dog, I won’t hesitate. The human wins every time. Especially against a wolf that might’ve killed off two, possibly more, humans, already.
Aggressively, I check my gun. Just that one silver bullet. After grabbing several more regular rounds, I’m ready to go, and Diego knocks on the door a minute later. Perfect.
He doesn’t greet me with a smile. I want to chalk it up to him being tired, but that’s not it, and I know it. I’m not vain enough to think it’s because of me and Dean. Something else is going on.
If we were partners, I might be tempted to ask him what’s going on, but… personal attachments. I don’t want to get close to anyone in case they’re gonna be used against me like Travis had. Maybe that’s why I’m kinda seeing Dean. His crazy work schedule prevents us from seeing each other all the time, so we can’t grow super close super fast.
“You all set?” I ask him by way of greeting.
“This have anything to do with that animal attack you witnessed yesterday?”
“Word spreads fast, huh?” Suddenly anxious, I wince as I shut and lock the door behind me.
“You gotta admit, you’ve been in a lot of places at the wrong time lately,” he points out distantly.
“Or the right time to be able to catch all of these goons,” I counter.
“One of these times, I’m not gonna be around to be your back up. What then?” he challenges, almost threatening me. It’s awkward because it’s coming from a sense of protection.
“I’ll be the hero all by myself,” I say lightly.
“You’re just a little bit cocky, you know that?”
“Don’t worry. I’m not sitting on any walls.”
“Humpty couldn’t be put back together again. You won’t be able to either.”
We climb into my car, and I start it up. “I’ll avoid falling off walls and falling in general. I’ll even look before I leap and keep my eyes open and all of that.”
“What animal was it?”
“A wolf.” Still anxious and uptight, I pull away from the curb. “Have you heard any howls lately?”
“Just the wolf whistles I’ve been giving the ladies,” he jokes.
<
br /> I grin despite myself. It’s just too weird when he’s not teasing and flirting. “Not one howl?”
“Nah. Wolves here? Really?”
“Yeah. I saw one myself, remember?”
Anxious, I swallow hard as we near the cemetery. There’s a light mist, just like the one from my nightmare. A bad feeling rolls over me, so I drive past the graveyard.
Diego twists in his seat. “Isn’t that our destination?”
“Yeah.” I breathe out the word with a dollop of shame.
“You just passed it,” he says gently, looking at me with both confusion and concern.
“I know.”
I swing around and park up the street slightly from where I had in the dream. In isolation, we trudge through the graves. The earth is soft, and our boots sink slightly into the mud.
“Here is where the wolf… and it took off this way.” I trudge along the path. A sense of surreal déjà vu threatens to overwhelm me, both from the real past and from that terrible dream.
“We have to make tough calls all the time,” Diego says.
“I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“He might’ve been dead the second the wolf ran away. There might’ve been nothing you could’ve done for him. At least we’re trying to nab his killer, even if it is furry and has a tail.”
“I said I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“Look.” Diego grabs my shoulders. “Either you talk to me or someone else, or the lieutenant is gonna make you talk to Dr. Harris, and I know how much you enjoy that.”
“There is a third door. I pretend I talk to you, and it’s all good.”
Diego releases me, but his grimace stays with me. The look in his eyes… he’s agitated something fierce.
I can’t really blame him, but I would rather internalize everything than vocalize it. Talking won’t change a damn thing. What’s done is done. He should be happy that I’m not out here alone.
“I am glad you called me up, that you’re not out here alone,” he says in an eerie parallel to my thoughts. “Don’t care for Angelo, do you?”
“Not really.” I shrug.
“He can be counted on when it comes down to it. Paperwork, that’s not his thing. He’ll make phone calls when he has to. The hunt, that’s when he’s all in. He’s a decent detective.”
“How do you know so much about him?”
“We went to high school together. He was two years ahead of me.”
“Ah.” Time to get back on track. “The wolf went off this way and disappeared into this cave.”
The mossy curtain from my dream… it’s here, and I let it loose to fall.
Diego holds up his gun. “Want me to check first?”
“No.” If the wolf is here, I don’t want it to go after Diego. I’m the reason why he’s here, but I will not be the reason for him to get hurt.
Like before, I find a large rock and throw it into the cave. Nothing stirs within. I’m paranoid, so I find and throw another one. Still nothing. Still too anxious, the memory of my nightmare too vivid yet, I grab a large branch and shove that into the cave. No sound or grunt and the branch doesn’t hit anything except the side of the cave.
All right.
“Now we can go in.”
“You’re that afraid of a wolf?”
“Considering—”
“I’m teasing.”
“You afraid of any animal?” I ask as I pull the mossy curtain to the side.
“I’m the animal to be afraid of.”
I grin but don’t say anything. There’s no way he won’t try to twist it around.
The cave is so dark inside that I can’t see anything. My flashlight banishes the darkness away, and I see a clear indentation of patted down grass in an oval.
“Looks like a curled up wolf sat there,” I point out.
“Some blood.”
“Frank Ivy’s? Or maybe the wolf. I did hit it with a rock.”
“Why didn’t you just shoot it?”
“It was running away. Not an active threat.”
“So you gave the wolf rights?”
“If I’m out here, trying to hunt it down, do you really think I’m giving it rights?”
I came prepared with a small kit and collected a small sample of the blood. After taking off my gloves, we explore the rest of the cave. It’s not too far or deep, and there’s nothing else here. Should I give the fur over for analysis? Definitely will the blood.
Diego waits as I look around a second time. There’s no sign of anything manmade, not at first. I trip over a rock, shifting it away to reveal a small hole. Inside, there’s a pouch.
Again, I put on a pair of gloves. Diego squats beside me as I pull out the bundle. Male jeans and a black turtleneck, size XL. Beneath that are socks and large boots.
“What in the world?” Diego asks. “Who has a stash of clothes around here? And in a hole that a wolf frequents?”
“I’ve grown to stop asking questions and to take everything at face value,” I offer.
“So what, a wolf wears clothes?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You think…” He narrows his black eyes. His back is to the cave’s opening, so the rising sun creates a halo of light around him. He almost looks like a dark angel. “Don’t tell me. First vampires and now—“
“Now nothing. A wolf. Just a wolf.”
“You really are crazy.” He shakes his head.
“I’m not.” I scowl. I hated that everyone thought I was insane just because I thought the perp might’ve been a vamp wannabe. Just a wannabe! At first, even I couldn’t accept them as vamps. Who would have?
Diego grins sheepishly. I know better than to expect an apology, and he doesn’t. Instead, he suggests, “Let’s go back out and try to find paw prints to follow. The wolf had to go somewhere.”
“Yes.”
I follow him out of the cave and, strangely enough, I have to fight back a wave of disappointment. It’s not that I wanted the wolf to jump out and bite me and tear me to shreds. I just wanted… I don’t know. More signs of a wolf. Fewer signs of a human. How are the two related? Are they related? Maybe the wolf is a pet. A ferocious pet. Maybe trained to kill for his master.
I make a mental note to see if there’s a connection at all between Xandrie and Frank Ivy.
The only paw prints we can find lead to the cave. None leave. I do find some boot markings, but I can’t be sure if they’re ours or from the man I spied. Had he been wearing boots? I think so, but I hadn’t been paying attention to his feet.
Hm… where to go from here?
“Let the other officers assigned to the case work on it.”
I blink in surprise, my cheeks growing warm. I hadn’t meant to ask that out loud.
To cover my embarrassment, I cough and clear my throat. “It’s not that I don’t think they can handle it,” I start.
“You just want to have your hands in every case. Were you like this all the time in narcotics?”
“I pretty much was involved in every case in narcotics.”
“No wonder,” he murmurs.
“No wonder what?”
“You’re type A, aren’t you?”
“Not really.” I laugh, more than a little amused. “More like not at all.”
“So just—“
“Super involved,” I supply eagerly.
“Right.” Diego winks, chuckling. “But if you want to stay on Hunter’s good side—“
“Rex.” Disillusioned, I shudder, staring off into the distance where the man ran off in.
“Fine. If you want to stay on the lieutenant’s good side, you might want to do what we’re assigned.”
“I know. I know.” Head down, I trail behind him out of the cave. By the time we reach my car, my phone rings. “Speaking of the small-time devil,” I mutter as I answer it.
“Tempest. Where are you?”
“Heading in right now.”
“Good. By the end of the day, I want to be talk
ing to that vampire hunter either on the phone or in person. Got it?”
I rub the back of my neck. “I’ll do my best, Rex.”
“Your best isn’t good enough unless I’m talking to Flake.”
“Blake,” I correct. “Blake Damon.”
“Whatever.” He hangs up.
“Rude,” I mutter.
“Give him a chance.”
“Why bother?”
“If you don’t, he’s gonna continue to treat you like garbage.”
I smirk. “Actually, for the most part, he’s treating me like one of the guys.”
Diego tilts his head to the side and nods. “You got a point.”
It’s sad that his disrespect is on par, but it is what it is.
“Want me to swing back to my place so you can pick up your car?” I ask.
“Nah. Let’s just head in. You have any idea how to find this vampire hunter guy?”
“Nope.”
“Why had you been in the cemetery yesterday anyhow?” he asks, clearly confused.
“Trying to find him. I thought that vamps like to hang out in cemeteries. If any are still around, he’s bound to show up and take them out, right? I’ve tried the whole computer route, the paperwork, but it’s a dead end.”
“I know. Tried myself.” Diego shakes his head. “Rex has been in and out of meetings all day every day, so he’s leaving the detective work to us. Angelo getting anywhere?”
“No.”
“Not surprised. Rex used to find the leads, and Angelo would track them down. That’s his specialty. That and he has a way of getting people to crack.”
“Does he talk to them so much that they can’t think and confess everything to get him to shut up?”
Diego smirks. “I think so. But, ah, your cemetery idea isn’t a bad one. Why don’t we go check out a few others instead of returning to the station?”
“Vamps prefer the nighttime,” I remind him.
“Right,” he mutters. “So, now what? How are we supposed to find him?”
“Pretend we’re working hard and duck out of there before Rex can see us.”
Diego grins. “I love the way you think.”
We end up doing just that all morning long. The two of us grab a quick bite to eat for lunch. Instead of driving back to the station, I swing around. Taking a left, I head for the pawn shop I went to earlier to trade for pure silver.
When Wolves Howl: A Mayhem of Magic World Story (Bedlam in Bethlehem Book 2) Page 5