Witch's Hunger

by Deborah LeBlanc

  Jaco pounded on the door again and was about to give it another hit when Viv opened it.

  Jaco took one look at her and took a step back. “I must speak with you immediately,” he said.

  She motioned him inside.

  He shook his head. “I think it is best if we speak privately.”

  Viv motioned him inside again. “Whatever needs to be said can certainly be said in front of my sisters.”

  Jaco nodded. “As you wish.” He stepped inside, and Viv closed the door behind him.

  “Is there a problem at the East lair?” Viv asked.

  “No,” Jaco said. He looked uneasily at Gilly and Evee. “May I speak freely?” he asked Viv.

  She glanced toward the sitting room, saw the four cousins had remained inside. “Absolutely.”

  He nodded, then lowered his eyes slightly. “The problem is not at the East lair. The problem is at the North compound, where you were this morning.” He hesitated and Viv signaled for him to continue.

  This time he looked her square in the eye. “There has been a breach in the North compound. We have at least a hundred and fifty Loup Garou dead. The front and back entries were wide open and there are many gaps throughout the fenced territory.”

  Gilly moaned and Evee gasped. Viv simply stared at him.

  “If a hundred and fifty are dead,” Evee said, her eyes wide with panic, “then that means at least two hundred might be loose in the city.”

  “Or dead farther back on the feeding grounds,” Jaco said. “I didn’t have a chance to check every inch of the territory.” He looked at Viv. “I had gone there to get Milan as I had been notified he was missing and suspected he would be near Stratus. I spotted the massacre as soon as I arrived. Did a quick check along the entire fence lines, then came here to let you know.”

  Viv nodded, feeling like someone had thrown a fifty-pound boulder into her stomach. “Go back to the North compound. I’ll meet you there and get this figured out.”

  Jaco nodded, turned on his heels, opened the front door and disappeared in a flash.

  As soon as the front door closed, Gilly whirled about and faced her. A cocoon of hot air wrapped tight around Viv. Always an indicator of Gilly’s fury.

  “Viv François,” Gilly said in a low, trembling voice. She took a step closer to her sister. “What the fuck have you done?”

  Chapter 5

  The first emotion to hit Viv full in the heart when she made it back to the ranch and the compound with Nikoli was shock. A huge sob suddenly locked up in her chest, and she feared if she released it, she’d be changed forever. She didn’t know what to think—how to think.

  She didn’t even remember leaving the house. Somehow in the midst of the scramble to get to the compound, Nikoli appeared to take charge, ordering Lucien and Ronan to go with Evee to check on her Nosferatu, and Gavril to go with Gilly to check on her Chenilles. Gilly had started to protest, but instinct told Viv Nikoli was right and she told her sisters as much.

  Viv stood, holding a hand over her mouth. Still a sob escaped. “Who could have... How did... Oh, this can’t be. It can’t.”

  Socrates sat between Viv and Nikoli, his head lowered. Then he let out a loud mewl and said to Viv, “I told you not to leave! Oh dear, oh dear. This is so terrible, so horrific.” He sounded like an old, fretting, English butler. “What shall we do, Vivienne? What shall we do?”

  Reflexively, Viv turned her head away from the scene before her and buried her face in Nikoli’s shoulder, never giving a thought to the fact that they’d only met hours earlier. He cupped her head with a hand. “How?” she whispered. “Who?”

  “The Cartesians,” Nikoli said, his voice hard.

  Viv forced herself to turn back. The very gate that she’d opened earlier, and knew she had locked before she’d left, had been torn away from the fencing that held it up. Rips and gouges ran throughout the fencing as far as the eye could see. Far worse were the bodies of her Loups strewn everywhere. Many lay in the area where Milan and Warden had been fighting earlier that morning.

  With Nikoli beside her, Viv took a tentative step inside the compound, beyond where the gate should have been. Her tears refused to be held back any longer and started to flow profusely down her cheeks.

  When a Loup died, it immediately transformed to its human body. It made her think of all the wars that had been fought by countries around the world and how their battlegrounds must have looked a lot like this. Body after bloody body. The air reeked of blood, urine and feces. A putrid, solid scent that forced her to hold a hand over her mouth and nose.

  She whimpered when she spotted Whiskers. Her timid, sweet Whiskers. Death stealing her beautiful blond coat and leaving behind a young woman who appeared no older than twenty with long, blond, blood-matted hair. Her body was so mutilated she was barely recognizable.

  “No,” she mumbled between her fingers. “Heavens, no...”

  To her left, Viv saw Warden, or what was left of him. Stratus lay beneath him, both positioned as if they still copulated. But that was far from the case. They lay in what looked like a swimming pool of blood. Stratus was on her stomach, but her head had been twisted about so it faced the middle of her back.

  “Moose,” Viv groaned between sobs when she spotted her big, lovable oaf crumpled and flattened beneath a tree. It looked like he’d been run over by a semi.

  So many bodies everywhere. Certainly they couldn’t all be dead. Not all...

  Dropping her hand from her mouth and nose, Viv let out a shrill call to her Loup Garous. The sound wasn’t audible to the human ear, but any Loup Garou within a reasonable distance would hear it and recognize the sound as her beckoning call.

  When nothing stirred, Viv called again, cupping her hands around her mouth so the sound would travel as far as possible through the five hundred acres. She called and called until her throat hurt.

  Still not getting any response, Viv closed her eyes and sent out her own vibration, sent it through the earth, causing the ground to rumble with it. “Your mistress desires your presence. Your mistress demands your presence.”

  Nobody came.

  “I really didn’t mean it,” Viv said, turning to give Nikoli a sorrowful look. “I was just upset, you know? Tired of fighting with them.” Fresh tears poured down her face.

  Nikoli put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close. “I know. We can’t bring these Loups back, but we can damn sure make certain it doesn’t happen again. Trust me.”

  Viv lowered her head, sobbing, and gave a slight nod. She had no other choice but to trust because she and her sisters had no idea about the enemy targeting them.

  “Right now, we’ve got to give these guys a proper burial. If we don’t, the stench will only grow stronger, cause people downwind to start investigating.” Nikoli lifted Viv’s chin. “You up for that?”

  The question added starch to her back, making Viv stand taller and lift her head higher. “Yes. They’re my Loups, and I won’t leave them rotting here like garbage at a slaughterhouse.”

  Nikoli nodded, and he and Viv walked back to the outside of the compound.

  When they stood just past the entrance, Viv closed her eyes and released the same vibrations that she’d sent out to summon her Loups, only stronger. She held her arms out in front of her, hands out, palms up, and pulled from deep within herself, seemingly from her soul, a call to Mother Earth to bring her dead brood front and center.

  In that moment, the ground began to rumble and roll like soft waves on an ocean. Within the five hundred acres, the ground rolled gently from North to South, then East to West, then vice versa. Viv opened her eyes and watched as body upon body rolled into a heap near the tree where she’d found Moose. She lost count after ninety.

  When no more bodies found their way center, Viv lowered her arms and sc
rubbed her hands over her face to keep the sobs at bay. Then she held out a hand, gave a quick twist of her wrist and pointed her index finger toward the heap of bodies.

  Instantly a spark of fire roared to life in the middle of the pile and within seconds it consumed the entire death toll with a flash of white-hot flames.

  The air quickly clogged with the scent of cooking meat.

  Viv lowered her hand, and the fire blinked out as quickly as it had started. All that remained was a pile of ashes.

  “Do you smell that?” Nikoli asked.

  “How can you not? The stench is horrid.”

  “No, not just that. Something else mixed with it.”

  As much as she hated to, Viv drew in a deep breath. What filled her lungs nearly gagged her, but she caught on to what Nikoli meant. “It’s the same thing we smelled on our Gr—our books” she said.

  Nikoli nodded. “Cloves.”

  “Only it smells stronger here than it did in our books. Where is that scent coming from?”

  “I’m not certain yet. Let’s finish this so I can find out.” Nikoli gave Viv a light rub on her back, which sent electricity and guilt racing through her body.

  Viv stepped away from him and held out her arms once more, only this time she held her hands together as if to pray. “Open now by my command,” she said aloud. “Let all that’s gathered enter this land. Surah—mobdin—garnesh.” Then Viv opened her hands like a book, and the earth emitted a rumble, then a loud cracking sound. The ground within the compound split open, creating a narrow ravine that swallowed up the entire pile of ashes along with the trees that stood near it.

  When Viv closed her hands back into a prayer position, the ravine zipped closed like it had never been there, sealing the ashes and blood far below. With that done, Viv then held out her left hand, palm up, and drew a swirling motion with her right index finger. Layers of dirt within the compound began to churn and flip like a grater had been set in motion. Every drop of blood that hadn’t been touched by the fire was soon covered over with fresh soil.

  “I was wondering how we were going to clean everything up. Was afraid the smell would get people’s attention.”

  Viv whirled about, startled by the sound of Jaco’s voice behind her. “Shit! You know better than to creep up on me like that.”

  “Forgive me,” he said. “I really didn’t creep though. The man standing over there saw me walking up. You were just...busy at the time.” Jaco’s eyes grew hard. “Who’s the man?” He motioned to Nikoli standing a few feet away.

  “A—a friend,” Viv said, for lack of anything better to say. “He’s here to help.”

  Jaco let out a soft snort and turned his attention back to her.

  As Viv’s heart rate lowered from its shot of adrenaline, she said, “You have no idea who did this, Jaco? You didn’t see anything? Anyone?”

  “Nothing and no one. I came here looking for Milan. His lair companion came to me and claimed he’d gone missing. I figured with Stratus in heat, he might have slipped out and found his way here. That’s when I saw...well, all that was here. But let me show you something else I found.”

  He motioned for Viv to follow him as he walked about a hundred yards east of where they stood, outside the compound area. Viv signaled Nikoli to follow. When Jaco stopped, he pointed to the ground.

  “See?” he said. “Tracks.”

  Tracks were there, just as he indicated, but from what, Viv couldn’t decipher. They looked more like dog prints than footprints, only the pad markings were five times the size of a man’s hand. Above each pad track were claw marks that dug into the ground at least four inches deep.

  “Shit,” Viv whispered loudly. “I’ve never seen prints that big before. What is it? Bear?”

  “Oh, no,” Jaco said. “Even if we had grizzlies down here, their prints wouldn’t be that big.”

  Viv felt fury roiling in her chest. “I’m going to go talk to Charlie and the boys over in the cattle area to see if they noticed anything out of the ordinary.”

  “You shouldn’t be alone out here,” Jaco said. “Whatever did this to the Loups is no joke. The Loups are powerful in their own right and for something to take down that many... I can’t even imagine a creature capable of that.”

  “I won’t be alone,” Viv said. “Nikoli will be with me. I want you to check on your brood. Make sure everything is as it should be. Get a head count. Make sure we’re good there. Also let Aaron running the West pack know what’s going on if he doesn’t already. Have him do a count, as well. Then meet me back here.” Viv pointed to the North compound’s entrance. “But make it quick. I’ve got other things for you to do once I get the all clear on West and East.”

  Jaco nodded. “I’ll take care of it quickly.”

  Nikoli offered to drive Viv’s old blue Chevy pickup, which she kept in Algiers to haul around supplies and to trek from the compound to the ranch. When they were about two hundred yards from the ranch house, Viv signaled for Nikoli to stop.

  “It’s best you stay here,” Viv said to him. “The hands out here aren’t used to seeing other people with me. Don’t want to get their hackles up.”

  Nikoli put the truck in Park, shut off the engine and turned to her. “Hackles?”

  “Just stay put, okay?”

  Viv was making her way to the ranch house when she heard a loud whistle in the distance. She looked toward the sound and saw Charlie Zerangue waving at her from the back of his battered pickup. From the looks of it, he and his two helpers, Kale and Bootstrap, had been tossing salt blocks out of the truck into a cow pasture south of the ranch house.

  She sent a wave back and started to walk in their direction but the men scrambled into their truck and headed her way.

  “How you doin’, Miss Viv?” Charlie said through the open truck window when he drove up. It wasn’t until all three men were out of the truck that Charlie did a double take.

  “You got somebody with you, Miss Viv?” Charlie asked, surprise in his voice as he squinted at her truck parked in the distance.

  Viv threw a quick glance at her truck. “Oh, just a friend from out of town.”

  “You okay?” Kale, an ex-wrangler from Texas, asked. “Looks like you been crying.”

  “Did somebody hurt you, Miss Viv?” asked Bootstrap, the youngest of Charlie’s helpers. “If’n so, we can take care of ’em quicker than spit.”

  Viv held up a hand and shook her head. “Nobody hurt me,” she said and looked away. “Allergies.”

  Charlie shook his head. “Must be one hell of an allergy for your eyes to be all swollen up like that.”

  “Mmm,” Viv said and left it at that.

  “Odd world we live in today,” Charlie said, for the simple sake of saying it. “Lots of crazy people. Odd everywhere you turn.”

  “Talking about odd,” Viv said, “have any of you noticed anything out of sorts out here? Anything or anyone heading to the back compound? Weird noises, people?”

  “No, ma’am,” Charlie said. “We don’t let anybody out this way much less out to the compound. Not even us. We know you don’t want us out that way.”

  “Now that I’m thinkin’ on it,” Bootstrap said, “I did hear some weird noises coming from back that way.”

  “When?” Viv asked.

  “Early this morning,” Kale said. “I heard it, too. A weird high-pitched sound.”

  “Yeah,” Bootstrap pitched in. “Sounded like a bunch of ghosts yelling at the same time.”

  Charlie gave Bootstrap a shove on the shoulder. “Shut up now, boy. Don’t be making up stories like that in front of Miss Viv.”

  “I ain’t makin’ it up,” Bootstrap said, then held up four fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

  “Sorry, Miss Viv,” Charlie said. “Don’t know what these boys are talking about
. I sure didn’t hear anything like that.”

  “You didn’t hear it ’cause you was out picking up those ten head of Brahmas,” Bootstrap countered. “I’m tellin’ you we heard it, didn’t we, Kale?”

  Kale gave a quick nod, then tapped his cowboy hat low over his eyes. “Heard something. Could have been a bunch of coyotes, though. Not unusual out in these parts.”

  “So neither one of you went back there to see what was making the noise?” Viv asked.

  “No, ma’am,” Bootstrap said. “Seein’ how you told us never to go back that side, we did just like you ordered. Nothing.”

  “Saw your man Jaco head back that way a bit later,” Kale said. “Figured if something had gone sideways back there, he’d let us know. Guess he went and told you first though, seeing you’re here now.”

  “You got troubles back there, Miss Viv?” Charlie asked. “Need us to go tend to anything for you?”

  “No, just do your job right here, guys. If I need you, I’ll give you a call. I just wanted to check in with you. Make sure nothing or no one had been out that way.”

  “No, ma’am,” Bootstrap said. “Hand to God. Been just us three. Well, ’cept when Charlie went out for the Brahmas this morning. We been pitchin’ hay and salt most of the day.”

  “Sorry we couldn’t be more help, Miss Viv,” Charlie said.

  “No problem,” Viv said. “But I’d appreciate if you’d keep an eye peeled.”

  “For sure,” Charlie said. “I see anything, I’ll make sure you’re the first to know.”

  “Thanks, Charlie.”

  As Nikoli drove her truck to the landing where the ferry was moored, Viv rode along in silence.