“My father has nothing but the purest intentions, but he sometimes lacks common sense,” Abigail went on to explain. “When my mother left us, my sister and I were only kids. I can’t blame my father much, but he didn’t have the slightest idea how to care for two girls. I’ve grown up taking care of them both in a way.”
“That sounds like a lot of work. I can’t imagine being thrust into a situation like that.”
“It has its up and downs. Its just that everything has become more complicated now with the attacks on the town.”
“What do you mean?”
Abigail stopped herself and looked deep into Jack’s eyes. She stared at him, on the verge of opening her mouth and revealing a secret. Jack could tell by her expression how badly she wanted to say something. Instead she cleared her throat and lowered her head.
“I’m sorry, it’s late and I should really be going to bed.”
“Okay, if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m a good listener.”
“Thanks, Jack.” Abigail gave him a knowing grin. “I’m glad you were randomly out for a stroll at one o’clock in the morning and stopped to talk to me.”
Jack
The next morning Jack, Marcus, Sloan, and Aareth walked over to the Ahab house to find a note on the door that read:
Dear Guests,
I’m sorry I can’t personally be here to welcome you this morning, but I need to go and take care of my sister. Food is ready for you on the table as well as a list my father compiled of who the creature has attacked, people who have seen the beast, and where the last attack took place.
Be safe,
Abigail
Aareth opened the door slowly, almost as if he expected an ambush. When he didn’t see anything, he walked inside and took a seat at the table. “Does anyone else get a weird feeling from this family?”
“There’s definitely something else going on here beside animal attacks.” Sloan voiced what they were all thinking. “Today we find out what.”
Breakfast was a modest meal of eggs, bacon, and fruit. Abigail had already set the table for them neatly with folded napkins at each place setting and an arrangement of flowers as the centerpiece.
Jack brought himself back to reality as his mind drifted to Abigail and the conversation he’d had with her the previous night.
“Jack, are you listening?”
“Ummm… yeah, Dad, sorry. What did you say?”
“Why don’t we let Sloan and Aareth talk to the eyewitnesses and check out the last murder scene. You and I can take a walk in the woods surrounding the town and see what we can find. Sound like a plan?”
Jack nodded, once more aware of his surroundings. Sloan hunched over the list Elijah compiled. Aareth turning the combination of gears on his electric gauntlets and Marcus just finishing his meal.
“Okay, Marcus, Jack. I know I don’t have to tell you to be careful, but I feel like I should, anyway,” Sloan looked up from the paper. “We’ll meet back here for dinner, say six o’clock. Keep your eyes open. There’s a long list of deceased city members here. We can be sure of one thing already, this thing knows how to kill.”
Sloan
“Can I see that list?”
“Sure.” Sloan handed the list of names to Aareth.
Aareth took the paper as the two continued to walk down the town’s main dirt road. There were thirty-two names on the list of deceased town folk and only three on the side that had been compiled of eyewitnesses.
Sloan waived to a few of the town’s people who passed at varying intervals and smiled back. The sun was warm. Sloan was eager to get to the bottom of the killings and complete her mission. She had a good feeling about the day but couldn’t help notice the frown on Aareth’s face.
“What is it? Did you find something?”
“There are so many attacks in the course of just over two months. We need so much more information than this piece of paper is going to tell us. Who knows if this list is even accurate.”
“You think the preacher is lying, don’t you?” Sloan slowed her pace and raised an eyebrow.
“Maybe not exactly lying, but—maybe withholding information.”
“I got the same feeling.”
“We need to go someplace where we can get the truth, someplace where we know they’ll talk to us without a filter.”
“Where’s that?”
“A bar.”
“We’re here to work,” Sloan scowled as she looked on Aareth’s grin. “Not to get drunk.”
“Excuse me, sir,” Aareth was already ignoring her as he flagged down an older gentleman who pushed a wheel barrow in both of his strong arms. “Where can we get a drink around here?”
“A little early to be drinking, son,” The man cocked his head to the side and looked up at Aareth. “Even if there was someplace to get a drink at nowadays.”
“You mean there’s no bar or saloon in the entire city?”
“Used to be,” the man lowered the wheelbarrow and wiped sweat from his forehead. “We used to have quite a few but they got shut down when their owners and operators died.”
“All of them died?” Sloan asked, “from the animal attacks?”
“That they did,” the man rocked back and forth on his feet as he nodded. “Well, I guess if you’re hurting for a drink that bad you still might be able to find one inside The Corner Saloon. That was the last bar to close. It just shut down last week. It’s down this road another block and to the left. Don’t let Preacher Ahab find you there. He’s not a big supporter of the drinking business.”
“We won’t,” Aareth extended a hand. “Thanks for the information.”
“No problem, anything I can do to help,” the man shook Aareth’s hand in return.
Sloan and Aareth turned from wheel barrow rolling citizen and headed in the direction he pointed out.
“What are the odds of all the places to get alcohol being targeted?” Sloan asked as her boots kicked up miniature dirt clouds.
“Not to mention the mayor and the police officers and sheriff in this city,” Aareth continued her thought.
“This is starting to look less and less random. It sounds like coordinated attacks.”
“How is the animal targeting certain people and not others?”
“I don’t know, Inspector Emerson. You tell me.”
Aareth took a deep breath. “This is getting more and more confusing by the minute.”
“Agreed. Looks like we’re here.” Sloan pointed to a single story wooden building. The wood structure sported a large sign that read The Corner Saloon, above its swinging double doors.
“Ladies first.”
“Such a gentleman,” Sloan stepped onto a creaky wooden porch and entered the dark building. The saloon was one large room with tables and chairs thrown every which way like a tornado touched down inside the building. Near the back of the room was a long bar.
Behind and on top of the bar, glass was scattered everywhere. The stench of spilled alcohol and blood filled Sloan’s nostrils and made her cough. Gore marks and spatters could still be seen around the floor, walls, and even ceiling.
“Wow,” Aareth coughed past the smell. “Wheelbarrow guy didn’t tell us we’d be walking into a war ground.”
Sloan forced herself to move into the room and made her way to the bar. They were alone besides the stench of the building that met them at every turn.
“Well, so much for finding someone willing to talk to us,” Sloan fixated on a particularly large red mark on the back wall.
Sloan was still looking around the room when they both heard something crash behind the bar. Sloan jumped back, and in one quick motion, drew her sword. Without even thinking, she flipped the switch that heated the blade.
Aareth stood on her left, both hands slipping into the mage powered gauntlets dangling from his belt.
Jack
“So what do you think about all of this?” Jack asked his father.
“I don’t know, son. I think that we�
��re still very far from finding the truth.”
The two sorcerers had left the preacher’s house right after Sloan and Arreth and headed straight for the woods. The city was surrounded on all sides by thick, forested terrain and rolling hills. A large mountain range rose to the sky a few miles behind the city.
Jack was already feeling at home. He was accustomed to the noises and smells of the forest landscape. Where most people would give themselves whiplash from twisting their heads at every snapping twig or grunting animal, Jack knew exactly what the sounds meant and where they came from.
This was the first hint that something was wrong. This particular forest near Burrow Den was unusual in that not as many animals inhabited the area. Jack was used to seeing a dozen or more different animals by now, including unicorns, rabbits, squirrels, birds, and others. So far he had caught sounds of just a handful of these creatures.
“They’re scared of something,” Jack said, more to himself than his father. “It’s too quiet out here.”
“More than that, Jack. They’re terrified. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
The tone in his father’s voice made him turn his head. Jack gave his father his full attention. Marcus was staring into the distance, like he could see through the trees themselves.
“We need to pick up this thing’s trail. Everything else, all of the answers to our other questions, will follow.”
Jack obeyed, turning his attention to the forest floor. Jack often compared his job as a tracker to that of an inspector or detective. Everything around him was his crime scene and it was up to him to find the clues.
Jack and Marcus traveled deeper and deeper into the forest. They examined any and all game trails and small outlets that led ever deeper into the forest. It had been hours and still there was no sign of an animal that would be big enough to kill a human being.
The younger sorcerer brushed his thick brown hair back as his mind wandered from the trail back to Abigail. Jack had never had a real girlfriend before and at his age, he thought that was pitiful. Not only was he extremely clumsy when it came to talking to the opposite sex, but his father always moved. For a sorcerers with their skill set tracking and hunting jobs took Jack and Marcus all over the Outland. They were never in one place more than a few weeks, maybe a month, before it was time to move once again.
Perhaps this time things could be different. There was a strength in Abigail, Jack admired. If this job took more than a week or two, that would give him a chance to really get to know her.
Jack was so wrapped up in thought he missed the huge print right in front of him and stepped in it instead. The section of the path he traveled ran close to a small stream. The bank was muddy and soft, allowing impressions to be easily formed. What made Jack look down in the first place was the suction of his boot to the muddy terrain.
“Ummm… Dad?” Eyes wide he looked at the size of the print he stepped in, he saw two more gigantic prints before they were lost in the water. “You should see this.”
Marcus followed parallel to his son, further from the stream. The older sorcerer was there in a minute, wearing a vexed expression Jack wasn’t used to seeing.
There was a moment of silence as Marcus squatted down and placed his hand a few inches over the large print. The print dwarfed the sorcerer’s hand by more than double. Just like the drawing Jack had seen in New Hope, he was amazed by the similarities the paw print shared with the average wolf.
This track, however, was far bigger than any wolf print he had ever seen, and it was even larger than the drawing in New Hope.
“It’s huge,” Jack breathed, trying to conjure up an image of how large the animal would have to be to fit paws of that size.
“It’s larger than a bear and definitely bigger than the drawing we saw of the paw in New Hope.”
“You think there’s more than one?”
“Either that,” Marcus stood and scratched the underside of his jaw, “or whatever this is—it’s growing.”
Jack’s mind went a hundred different directions trying to find an answer to this mystery when both men heard a loud female laugh behind them.
Jack wheeled around, wand in hand. Elizabeth stood a few yards away, her fiery red hair surrounding her like a cape.
“Wait,” she said with a smile, placing both hands in the air. “I surrender, and I thank you, Jack.”
Jack felt his heart beating like a war drum deep in his chest, adrenaline was beginning to ebb, and he lowered his wand.
“Elizabeth,” Jack holstered his wand. “You have to be careful. You can’t sneak up on us like that. You could have gotten hurt. And thank me for what?”
“Because I saw you last night out late talking to my sister.” Elizabeth ignored everything Jack said except his last question. “You were so nice to her. You should have definitely tried to kiss her. I think she likes you.”
Jack stood stunned, not daring to move a muscle. His eyes darted first to his father to see what his reaction would be. Next, his mind processed the new information that Abigail and Elizabeth were sisters, if he chose to believe Elizabeth.
“Late night chats, huh?” Marcus drew a finger across his throat. “Better not let the captain find out.”
Jack cringed at his father and was about to apologize before Elizabeth interrupted again. Walking up to the two men, she was wearing a dark brown leather skirt and top with tall black boots.
“What are you guys out here looking for? Are you looking for the laboratory?”
“What laboratory?” Marcus asked.
Elizabeth gave Marcus a look that said he should know exactly what she was talking about and was disappointed in him because he didn’t.
“Get out,” Elizabeth pointed behind her with an outstretched finger. “I mean it for your own safety.”
“Excuse me?”
“Get out. If you don’t know about the laboratory, then you shouldn’t even be in the woods, ‘cause they’re gonna get you good.”
Jack was still caught up on the fact that Elizabeth and Abigail were sisters. Elizabeth’s cryptic words went right over his head.
“Wait a minute Elizabeth, let me get this right. Abigail is your sister and Elijah is your father?”
“Yep,” Elizabeth gave Marcus another disappointed look before she turned to Jack. “Weird, right?”
Jack examined Elizabeth closer. Maybe it was just because he knew now, but he could see a resemblance. Their hair color was of course off, but skin tone and even freckles were similar.
“Elizabeth?” Marcus drew the young girl’s attention back to the subject at hand. “Can you show us this laboratory?”
“Okay,” Elizabeth placed a finger on her chin, deep in thought. “But first it’s time to pay the payer guy.”
Marcus looked at her with a blank stare and Jack had to stifle a laugh despite their circumstances.
“Okay, and how do I do that, Elizabeth?”
“You and Jack owe me one. I’ll collect later.”
“Come on, you two.” Elizabeth turned and started heading deeper into the woods. Without even looking back, she called out. “Wait till you get a load of this. It’s going to make you poop your pants.”
Sloan
“Who’s back there?” Sloan yelled over the dark wooden bar. “Get up now with your hands in the air.”
There was a tense moment of only silence. Sloan debated vaulting over the counter and confronting whatever it was head on. Then two hands were slowly raised and the man that had argued with Elijah the day before at the town meeting stood up.
“I’m—I’m sorry.” He was shaking, clearly terrified as he stuttered. “I heard you coming and I panicked.”
Sloan lowered her sword but still eyed the short man. He was older with a bald head and a groomed white beard. A grey vest covered his black shirt. From the waist down he was hidden by the bar.
Sloan looked at Aareth, who shrugged and also lowered his fisted gauntlets.
“Okay, come on o
ut,” she ordered. “Slow and easy.”
The man eyed them suspiciously as he stumbled from behind the counter, his arms still in the air. Sloan did her best not to smile as the man wobbled in front of them like a monkey. In a minute, he stood before them, eyes wide in fear.
“You can put your arms down now. What’s your name and why were you hiding behind the bar?”
“My name is Benjamin Clive.” The little man gulped visibly as he lowered his arms. “I live in town. I have a shoe repair shop where I work, right out of my home. I’m, uh—I’m here because—Well, I might as well tell you. I’m dead, anyway. I came here looking for a drink and to hide from the monster that the Divine has sent to terrorize our town.”
“Just when we thought this couldn’t get any more confusing,” Aareth made a beeline behind the bar, looking for unbroken glasses and liquor.
“You think some kind of god has sent this creature?” Sloan ignored Aareth’s comment, instead she directed her attention to the man in front of her.
“How else do you explain the attacks and the people targeted? Oh, I shouldn’t have spoke out against the preacher during last night’s meeting. Now I’m afraid I’ve doomed myself.”
Aareth found three mugs that seemed to have escaped the mayhem surrounding them and placed them on the bar. He looked pleased with himself as he poured generous amounts of whisky in each mug. “Well, if you’re going to die anyway, might as well have a drink.”
Benjamin Clive looked at Sloan first. She nodded and he wasted no time in righting a fallen stool and taking the mug in both hands. Sloan raised her eyebrows as the man took long, burning draughts of the fierce liquid.
Aareth motioned for Sloan to come and take a cup.
“I think I’ll pass. I’m not much of a drinker at nine in the morning, while I’m supposed to be working.”
“Oh well,” Aareth shook his head like that was the craziest thing anyone ever told him and clinked mugs with Benjamin Clive. “More for us.”
House of Wolves: (A Paranormal Urban Fantasy) (The Vampire Project Book 1) Page 13