Animal Attraction

by Tracy St. John

  Taylor sat at Patricia’s old desk on the stage, packing stuff up. She paused as she saw me coming. Pained grief flashed across her face. I understood it and I never would have come to her in her girlfriend’s body if we didn’t have work to do. At least she didn’t run away from me this time. Our meeting at Isabella’s house had done some good.

  I halted at the foot of the stage, treating Taylor like one would a skittish colt who might try to escape. I held up a gold pocket watch.

  Taylor composed herself and came forward. “This belongs to the shifter you want tracked? Is it something he handles a lot or recently?”

  I nodded. “It’s been handed down in his family for three generations. I hope that doesn’t mess you up? Ryan takes it to special events and church each Sunday. It means a lot to him.”

  Taylor rubbed her thumb over the closed face. “It might work. The trick is it will push me to track his current whereabouts rather than where he’s been. The item has to be really strongly attuned to him for it to take me elsewhere.”

  “According to Ashley, the last time Ryan got a suspicious call was right after church. He left the house still wearing his Sunday suit and the watch.”

  Taylor grinned to hear my report. “Terrific. That could be the situation that I need. I should be able to come up with something. Is tomorrow during the day okay?”

  “Perfect. See if Lana can go with you since I’ll be tagging along in my ghostly aspect. And thanks.” I looked at the boxes surrounding the desk. “Packing up already, huh?”

  Taylor sighed and stretched, rubbing her back as if she’d been at it for some time already. Judging from the bare spots on the usually cluttered desk, she had. “Tristan wants to get familiar with the vibe in Atlanta as soon as possible. When he takes his place in the senate, he wants to be settled in and ready to work. So we’re leaving pretty soon.”

  I smiled and gave a slight shake of my head. “Typical Tristan. No wasting time when there is wheeling and dealing to be done.”

  Taylor nodded and shifted from one foot to the other. She was getting uncomfortable.

  It was time to give the poor woman some peace. “Okay. Thanks again for helping with the shifter case. I’ll catch up to you tomorrow.”

  She nodded. “Okay. No problem.”

  She returned to her packing. I didn’t stick around, wanting to spare her as much pain as possible. I’m sure things could be more awkward between us, but I’d rather not know how that could be possible.

  Gerald was busy when I told him I needed a lift somewhere. He surprised me by handing over the keys to his Mercury.

  “Not one scratch,” he warned, his ears flattening to his head in warning. “I mean it.”

  “I know, that car is your baby,” I answered with perfect seriousness. “I’ll take a case of BP9 so road rage doesn’t make me trade paint with the idiots on the streets.”

  His eyes widened to hear me tease. “Woman, I don’t care whose body you are wearing. I will hurt you if my car gets messed up.”

  I huffed at him. “Then why did you offer it?”

  “Temporary insanity. Go before I change my mind.”

  I went. I had work to do and I needed wheels to do it.

  Since I felt cold no matter what, I drove with the window down. The frozen February night air was exhilarating, especially in a restored classic. Man, I loved power. I had a hard time keeping the Cougar at only ten miles above the speed limit. I wanted to tear up Highway 17 in that thing.

  I arrived where the dead shifter had been found earlier that day. It had been confirmed he was one of Levi’s instructors. I drove past the area, pulling into a church’s parking lot a quarter of a mile down the road. I stopped the Mercury in a space right under the glare of a streetlight and locked it up tight. Then I hoofed it back the way I’d come.

  Dan waited for me at the crime scene. The tape still wound around the trees where the werehog had been found. More tape strung along the path his blood colored. In the dark, it reminded me more than ever of the place my body had been left, the place I had haunted for several days until Dan found me.

  I focused on our work. We went back over the trail, stopping where we had earlier that day. Much as Charlie the deputy had done, I sniffed around the area in hopes heightened vampire senses would pick something up. No such luck.

  I smacked the branch of a nearby dogwood. “Ugh, this is frustrating. I need a drink.”

  Dan made a face that said for me to cool it. “Sorry. No blood on tap here.”

  I was disgusted, not furious. I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “I’ve got the bottled swill back in the car. I can run pretty fast if I start pegging in the red.”

  Dan put his hands on his hips and looked up at the canopy of pines over our heads. The thin trunks and branches let us see that the night was clear and filled with stars.

  He said, “It’s tough to figure anything out with all these trees. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to try flying?”

  I cringed, but I knew it was our only option. “Actually the flying isn’t all that bad as long as I go straight and don’t mind jetting at supersonic speeds. I land with no problem too – crash land, that is.”

  Bless his heart, he looked genuinely sympathetic. “My poor girl.”

  I urged my pride to take a vacation, with the promise dignity wouldn’t be far behind it. “I suppose I should try. No laughing when I take out a tree.”

  Dan didn’t crack a smile. “Never.”

  I squared my shoulders and set myself under the least amount of foliage in the area. I urged myself up and began to elevate.

  As I’d told Dan, going straight is not that big a deal. I brushed up against the tips of a few limbs, but pretty much avoided smacking into anything. Within seconds I was up above the trees.

  I kept climbing, wanting a good view of everything. Vampire vision is better than ghost vision. Plus certain things were lit up, making it easy to pick out landmarks. In the distance to the west of Highway 17, I saw the airfield. I decided certain lines of lights close to the dark ribbons of roads must be strip malls. Nearer to my position, maybe seven miles away and more to the north, was the sprawl of the federal training academy. It had really grown over the years, making the facility about half the size of Fulton Falls.

  Most of what laid beneath me was the swath of woods. A breeze through the pines whispered secrets that I couldn’t understand. One well-lit building I didn’t recognize stood about three miles away. And even closer, a tiny glimmer of light shone from deep in the trees.

  I thought it would be worth my while to check out those two light sources, the smaller one first. Doing my best as usual to maintain a slow pace, I began to move towards the glimmer.

  Before long I zoomed along, going faster all the time. I winced knowing how bad the eventual landing would be, but the tiny mote of light got bigger. I hoped I wouldn’t flash by it so fast that I wouldn’t be able to see its source. I started trying to angle downward to pass as close to the tops of the pines as I was able.

  I was almost directly over the light and not nearly as low as I wanted to be when I saw a flash of a different kind of light. It sparked near the glimmer. I heard something whiz past my ear. Another flash. Another whiz that came even closer. Then I heard the gunshots.

  I had the thought that bullets travel faster than sound before it occurred to me that I was the target. In a panic, I abruptly reversed course.

  I had to give myself credit. Even though I somersaulted wildly, I still managed to steer myself back in the direction I’d come from. As the sky and ground changed sides over and over at dizzying speeds, I caught sight of the highway here and there. I aimed for it as best I could. Some small rational part of me felt sure I was out of the range of the gun, so I concentrated on slowing myself down as much as possible. With each rotation of my body, the treetops moved closer and closer. Then I was in them.

  I stopped trying to fly and let myself drop. My yelps rang through the woods as I bounced off branch
es. The trees and my bones cracked as we did damage to each other. Pain came steadily, infuriating me.

  It seemed like an eternity before I hit solid ground. My legs had been spared damage. I jumped to my feet, fanged and ready to drain the bastard who’d shot at me. I barely noticed my left arm hung at a weird angle, useless at my side.

  Someone was going down.

  Dan appeared in front of me before I could take off. His eyes were wide with horror as he looked at me. “Shit, who’s shooting in the middle of the night? Did they startle you? Are you okay?”

  Something about having him there took the edge of madness away. I gained enough presence of mind to speak. “Startle me? I was the target! When I find that bastard—”

  I headed in the direction I thought I’d come from. The trouble was, I’d gotten all turned around. I stormed one way looking for that small bit of light and then another. One tree looked like the next and pretty soon I wasn’t even sure what county I was in.

  Dan waited for my rage to settle down a bit before attempting to speak again. Finally he said, “Hold up, sweetie. Did you see the shooter?”

  I shoved at a thick curtain of kudzu, fuming. “No, but I figure when I find the ass-hat with the gun, he’s my guy.”

  “Brandilynn, you don’t even know which way to go.”

  His gentle rebuke made me stop trying to bull my way through the woods. I closed my eyes and forced calm on myself. I was out of control, a rabid vampire who would attack anyone I came across whether he had a gun or not.

  Jeez, had I just called myself a vampire?

  Okay, chasing after the gun-happy jerk using me for target practice was out. That meant I needed to get to my case of Blood Potion. That meant slowing down, acting like I had some sense and getting my bearings.

  I opened my eyes. Dan stood in front of me, waiting patiently. He gave me an encouraging smile. “Do you know which way to go?”

  I licked my lips. I decided to cover what had happened in an orderly fashion. “I saw a light. I was going to check it out and was nearly there when someone close by shot at me.”

  “What kind of light was it?”

  The question made me irritable. “How should I know? There is a light in the middle of the woods, where nothing else is.”

  Dan pressed even though he had to know my patience was next to nil. “Like a campfire? A flashlight?”

  I noticed my various hurts more as shock and anger wore off. I needed my arm set before it healed funny. Boy, did I ever need blood. But I was also determined to be more human that monster. So I sucked it up – ugh, pun not intended – and made myself think.

  “Not a campfire. Bigger than a flashlight. More like a porch light on a house. Maybe there’s a cabin in the woods. So there must be a road or a path somewhere around here that will take me to it.”

  Dan held a hand up. “You shouldn’t go looking for it. Not right now.”

  I’m sure my grin was heartless. “Oh, I think I should. The question is, do I bite or wring the neck of the jerk playing target practice with me?”

  He gave me Dom Dan look. Even with my body screaming for blood, I froze under its power.

  Seeing I wasn’t about to charge off to commit mayhem, Dan said, “Think about this, Brandilynn. What sane person shoots at a vampire unless he’s using silver-infused bullets? You know, the metal that hurts vampires? And before you say you’re not a vampire, you are trapped in a vampire body. You are vulnerable.”

  Darn him, he was right. As close as those bullets had come to me, I thought my attacker must have a nightvision scope and spectacular aim. He could do some pretty horrendous damage if I came rampaging after him.

  Dan saw that he was getting through to me. “You have to anticipate whoever went after you is expecting you to show up right now. He’s waiting and watching for you.”

  My right fist clenched. My left hung limp. That brought a new spark of fury, one that didn’t want me to give up on revenge. “So we turn around? Walk off?”

  “For the moment. We need to find out who occupies that area and get the information to the authorities.”

  I had a thought that made me gasp. “Because whoever would take a shot at a vampire would be just as quick to shoot a shifter.”

  Dan glared into the trees, his expression grim. “And silver is lethal to shifters. That this happened so close to where that one showed up dead – we need to figure this out quick.”

  “Point me towards the road so I can get to the car. I’ll meet you at my office in Para Central,” I said. “Right after I fix this arm and swallow a case of BP9.”

  I made it back to Gerald’s car in quick order. First I drank to get over my general fury over being shot at and hurt. When I decided I might not tear the head off of anyone who came across me, I set my arm as best as I could. I’m no medic of any sort, but I was in a hurry to find out who was out there in the woods. I settled for making my arm as straight as it would go and hoped for the best. I figured I could always go to the hospital later if I mucked up the job.

  The pain was horrendous. I yelled my head off ... and yes, I cursed. As much as I disliked profanity, sometimes only a swear word or one hundred would do. The pain sparked more anger. So I downed plenty more BP9 to deal with that and speed healing of the arm and the ribs that added their shattered hurt to the agony.

  I chugged four more bottles before I pulled into a parking space downtown. By the time I stepped into the King George, I was full to the gills with bottled blood. I didn’t care if I never saw another drop of the stuff for the rest of my afterlife. However my arm twinged only a little and I could use it normally again. The rest of my pains disappeared. It almost seemed worth all the crap I’d gone through to see the looks on everyone’s faces as I made my way to my office. Gerald was so shocked by my disheveled state that he couldn’t speak for a full minute.

  Because of my many flying mishaps, I kept extra clothes in a closet in my office. Ten minutes later I changed out of the jeans and tee shirt I’d worn to the woods. I traded up for a nice pair of slacks and a silk blouse. I combed Patricia’s short black hair and ensured it was twig-free. Last, I freshened up my makeup. As I did so, I told Gerald what had happened.

  “When I suggested the idea about a fight pit for shifters, we talked about how it would require privacy,” the werepanther mused. “That would be a great place for something like that. Do you have any idea whose property that might be?”

  “I thought the county owned all that stuff back there, but I honestly don’t know that specific area well,” I said, putting on a dash of lipstick. “That’s next on the list, right Dan?”

  My sweetie nodded. “Once you stop primping and start researching,” he teased.

  I stuck my tongue out at him. Since Gerald couldn’t hear or see Dan, he didn’t join in the picking on my vanity. I’m sure he would have.

  I turned my back to the mirror and sat at my desk. It only took a moment to crank up the computer. “How did it go with having someone clean up our new system?” I asked Gerald.

  “It’s running a lot better. We’re back to the kinds of complaints we had with the old way.”

  I snickered. So much for better living through upgrades. Isn’t that always the way?

  I logged onto the online database for city hall. Property records and zoning were public access, so it wasn’t a big deal for me to plug in to all of that. “Where exactly am I looking, Dan?”

  “Highway 17 near the training center ... that’s gotta be Pate’s Corners, right?”

  Pate’s Corners. That sounded familiar for some reason. I repeated it to Gerald as I did a search.

  “That does sound like the area you mentioned. Near the airport and the federal academy.”

  As he spoke, the map popped up on my screen. Yep, it matched up all right. I grinned at the men. “What do you know? Two shlongs do make a right.”

  Dan rolled his eyes. “Tell Gerald to smack you for me.”

  Gerald laughed. At least someone appreciates
my crude humor.

  We all leaned close to the monitor to take in the details of the property lines. I traced over them with my finger. “Okay ... most of this parcel of woods is owned by the fed, at least the part closest to the training center. The county is listed as landowner for this next bit, where the body was found.”

  Dan frowned. “So were you shot at on county land?”

  “Could be. But these three parcels here butting up against the county’s are owned privately. Then there’s this road that looks like some kind of boundary.” I paused, thinking about how the land had looked beneath me as I flew. It had been zipping past at a pretty good clip, but I had also oriented myself when I first rose in the air. I thought I had a decent track of where I’d gone.

  I told my companions this. “I know that light I saw was on the other side of that road. If the shooter was there, he wasn’t on county property. It’s private land.”

  Gerald leaned close to read the tiny writing on the map. “Those two are pretty small lots. The bit closest to the highway belongs to someone named Gary Schmidt. This one, Giesle Schmidt-Connors. Hmm, they must be related.”

  I traced another landmark. “Here’s another road cutting off from the county road between the Connors land and the next one. That’s a big parcel. The light could have been there too.”

  Dan also studied it closely. “Owned by TPJ Limited. You know, I think that might be where the Fulton Falls Country Club is located.”

  My eyes widened. “The country club?”

  “Yeah, look. There’s a road that comes off 17 that leads to it, one that’s owned by the county: County Woods Road. This smaller one branches off it. Old Jesup Trail.”

  No sooner had the words left his mouth when Gerald, who couldn’t hear him, spoke up. “Okay, I know exactly what I’m looking at now. The country club is down that way.”

  I thought again of the larger building I’d seen in the distance about a mile from where the shooter had been. “So I saw the country club’s lights here—” I pointed at the spot “—and the unknown light here. Club property all right. But the shots were fired away from the club itself, where it’s all wooded.”