Wendigo Conjuring

by Wendie Nordgren

  “Don’t say a word, Pooh Bear. I’m nervous enough without feeling self-conscious. I need to dress this form the way Shana dresses. She looks like a badass. I look like I come bearing extra towels and fucking mints.”

  He shook his head and smiled while adjusting my belt.

  When we all had arrived, it had bolstered the spirits of Colby’s pack and the townspeople. I overheard Kacey saying, “Oh, hell. What the fuck is that, Bob?”

  “This?” The man raised an eyebrow at him. He, like most of Colby’s new pack, took a more civilized approach to their personal grooming than did Holden’s pack. This guy had a short, neat haircut and a closely shaved face, but he still managed to exude that fuck with me if you’re stupid vibe. With his blue eyes and square jaw, he could have been a poster boy for the military recruitment propaganda which was prevalent during the war.

  With a wink at me, Colby held out his hand for me to take. “Rosie, this is Bob. Bob, meet my wife.”

  Bob inclined his head to me. “Ma’am. I was just explaining to Kacey why he should expect to lose to me in the coming battle.”

  “You’re dreaming, Bob.” Kacey shook his head.

  “Lose?” I asked.

  Another man thrust his hand out to me. When I took it, he bent over my hand and kissed it. Grinning, he said, “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Stillwater-Reeves. I hope bygones can be bygones. Our previous encounters have been unsavory. I’m Steve.”

  Realizing who he was, I gaped at him. “Steve, I didn’t recognize you with your clothes on. And, you’re right. We do keep meeting under the worst circumstances, specifically with your pack trying to kill me. However, you did come to my aid when I needed you. Thank you for that, but if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to forget about basements and possessed dolls.” I shivered, creeped out by the memory.

  “I’d like to forget how forcefully you kneed me in the balls.” He winked at me.

  Colby growled at him.

  “Look. I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish with that, but this is a 50 caliber Barrett sniper rifle with a night vision scope. They won’t know what hit them.”

  “Listen to him, Kacey. He knows his shit,” Steve said.

  “Just because you served for two and a half decades doesn’t mean you know more about killing these hairless, Doberman-looking vampires any better than the rest of us. This is an M-32 grenade launcher. And I’m taking out more of them than you are. You can just watch and learn.” He hefted up the weapon and smiled as fondly at it as a man might proudly gaze upon his firstborn.

  Like the other men, Colby, Sam, and Holden were each loaded down with machine guns and ammunition. My attention was soon drawn to the setting sun and to the men who started lighting the fires. Hunting Wolf came to my side and kissed me. He stared into my eyes as the darkness fell. It was kept at bay by the lights of the hotel and the fires’ flames. Then, reaching our ears from the hidden depths of the darkness, the wild, unnatural cries of the night hunters had my hair standing on end. They had awakened. Their screams were unlike anything I had ever before heard. I could only compare them to the frenzied calls of rabid jackals or hyenas.

  “Oh, God,” I whispered.

  “Yes, let us pray,” Hunting Wolf said. Closing his eyes and bowing his head, he led us in reciting “The Lord’s Prayer.”

  With Elizabeth’s ears, I could hear the men on the rooftop as they said the words with us, but I could also hear the demented screams of the night hunters, competing with our unified amens, as they ran with all of their might toward our location in search of blood.

  “It is time, Rozene.” He shimmered into his Wendigo form, turned his back on the parking lot, and walked out to meet the approaching evil.

  With bile threatening to rise from my stomach and into my throat, I jogged after him. Sam, Colby, Holden, and a few heavily armed members of each pack joined us. Crossing my cold arms over my chest, I caught up to Hunting Wolf and looked left and right along the deserted streets. Our mission was to draw the night hunters away from the civilians at the hotel and to eliminate as many of them as possible. We were bait. Coming around the corner of a brick building, a figure appeared. At first, I thought it was a large, rabid, feral dog that had lost all of its hair due to mange or to some other underlying issue, but when it opened its mouth and revealed long, curved, pointed teeth, I knew it wasn’t anything born of our world.

  “Wait,” Sam whispered to Hunting Wolf, stopping him before he could run forward and attack. “Let me see what this Browning can do.” He lifted the machine gun and took aim just as the night hunter caught sight of us and ran at us with the speed of a werewolf.

  “What are you waiting for? Do it!” Colby said.

  Rapid pops of sound spluttered out of Sam’s machine gun, making me jump.

  The night hunter jerked with each shot, and thick, black blood splattered to the street around it with sickening plops. The creature fell, and its eyes stared at nothing. Two more of its brethren ran upon it and tore it to shreds as they fed on their fallen brother. Bending at the waist, I lost my battle with the bile that had been creeping up my throat. I heard what sounded like a rocket, and then the two night hunters and their dinner were blown into chunks that rained down on the street. It sounded like wet socks hitting cement. I gagged again and dry-heaved. Saliva fell from my mouth and formed a small puddle at the toes of my borrowed rainboots.

  “Alright, we’ve seen what weapons can do to them. We can clear them out on our own. Take her back to the hotel,” Sam ordered.

  Sounds of gunfire reached our ears. At the hotel, they had already engaged the enemy. There was no running back there for safety for me, now.

  “Nice grenade launcher,” Sam said.

  “Thanks. That’s two I’ve got to your one,” Kacey said.

  “It’s too late to take her back.” Hunting Wolf was looking up. We followed where his eyes led us. From the rooftops of abandoned buildings to each side of the street, hundreds of black eyes stared down at us. They had us surrounded. “Draw them in, Rozene. It doesn’t matter if they bite you or me. Feed from them with your touch. It will make you stronger and faster, and you’ll need to be. The two of us need to keep them off of our warriors while they shoot. The rest of you, don’t let them get close to you. They will drain your blood in seconds if given the opportunity. Whatever you do, don’t touch Rozene or me. In the heat of battle, the inexperienced might make a mistake.”

  “Understood,” Colby said. He held his gun at the ready and scanned our surroundings as he prepared to attack.

  The night hunters’ screams soon drowned out all of our attempts at communication. Then, they spilled over the sides of the buildings like starved insects with the teeth of piranhas. The men opened fire, and many of the monsters became black, oily stains on the surrounding brick edifices. They moved like lightning. Two of the creatures tried to attack Colby, but Hunting Wolf grabbed one in each hand and fed. They screamed in terror as they turned transparent and vanished. Hunting Wolf roared, and I felt within myself an instinctual pull. My mate, my mates, and my pack were being threatened, and I had to defend them. They were having success with their weapons, weapons my Wendigoag brothers had lacked so very long ago, but the enemies’ numbers were overwhelming. Colby’s arms shook with the force of the shots he fired. Glancing to each side, I saw the strength of both Sam and Holden’s arms as they sprayed the night hunters with bullets.

  However, where one fell, ten more appeared. A stampeding herd, they came, charging at our group from every direction, like hypoglycemics toward a dessert buffet. Moving like a shadow, I placed myself between the men’s backs and the oncoming horde. The nausea and fear had left me. This was what we had been created to do, destroying night hunters. Opening my arms wide, I smiled and walked forward. Bullets flew around me and into the oncoming wave of death. Clicking claws and teeth accompanied their maniacal screams as we came together. They covered me and blocked everything else from my sight. Rough
skin, sharp fangs, and a putrid stench engulfed me. Several fang-filled mouths sank into my arms, legs, and thighs, but I held still and concentrated. I pulled at the piercing teeth and drew them within myself until they turned incorporeal, vanishing along with the bodies to which they had belonged and becoming my sustenance.

  Too unwise to learn from their brothers, new fangs replaced the old. Those fangs met the same fate as their predecessors as I unmade them. A magazine hit the concrete as someone reloaded and resumed firing. I took another step farther away to keep the night hunters distracted and the men safe from attack. I had only to remain still and allow the monsters to touch or bite me. Strength and power hummed within me as I gorged. It was unlike anything I had ever before experienced. Exultant, I gave voice to my power with a howl which built up within me and burst free in joyous victory. Drawing my blades, I sliced at the throats of those who attacked me and feasted upon those whose claws raked my flesh or whose teeth sank through it to my bones.

  Hunting Wolf was covered in a swarm of the mindless beasts. With a flick of his head, he sent the ones that were clinging to his mighty antlers sailing through the air to thud into the side of a building. He unmade the rest only to be covered with more of them.

  Running across the backs of its brothers, a pointed-eared night hunter leapt and landed on the back of one of my males. It sank its fangs into his upper arm and fed. The male dropped to his knees. He lifted a clawed hand but had already weakened too much to fight. Enraged, I grabbed the creature by its neck, breaking it as I unmade it. The male’s strength quickly returned to him. He looked up at me with glowing amber eyes and warned, “Behind you!”

  Spinning around, I returned to battle, swearing to myself not to become distracted again from my purpose. Wrinkling my sensitive nose at the stench of putrid, rotting meat, I sliced through the attacking demonic vermin, keeping them away from the males who blew them to pieces with bullets and grenades. The ground around them was clear of gore, but the ever-expanding radius of it bled outward from their center and made the streets slick with tar-like blood and viscera. My hair and skin were slick with the blood of our enemies, and my clothing was in tatters, shredded and pierced by claws and fangs.

  “How are you holding up, baby?” Colby called out to me.

  “I’ve never felt stronger or in greater need of a shower.” I grinned as four night hunters hissed at me and backed away from me on all fours. They were capable of learning after all.

  “Soon, they will flee, and when they do, we must follow them to their nest and destroy it. It is the only way,” Hunting Wolf yelled over the spluttering of machine gun fire.

  Even as he spoke, the sky had begun lightening to gray with the coming of a new day. We had survived the night. Frustrated, hungry screams pierced our ears as the night hunters started creeping away. They had worked hard to fill their bellies this evening but were leaving hungry. Instinctually, they turned and ran. Hunting Wolf pursued them, and I followed in his wake.

  “They are fast, but we can track them,” he said as the creatures outran us.

  “Where the hell did those fuckers go?” I asked incredulously as they vanished.

  “Language, Rozene.”

  I rolled my eyes at his back.

  The sun rose, and the ground beneath us steamed as the blood and remains of defeated night hunters burned to ash. Dust covered me as the light purified the death from my skin and hair. Only my own dried blood remained upon my healed, unmarked flesh. Having fed our Wendigoag natures, our healing abilities had amplified.

  Turning to the others, Hunting Wolf said, “Go back. Your ammunition is almost spent.”

  “No, it might be low, but we’re not out,” Sam said. “Where you and Rosie go, I go. Till the end.”

  “Don’t even go there with me,” Colby said. His blue eyes glowed defiantly. His sweaty T-shirt was sticking to his muscles. He and Sam looked dirty and dangerous, and my thoughts began to stray from night hunters and battle.

  “Rozene, come,” Hunting Wolf sternly ordered. He kept walking, and I hurried to keep the distance between us minimal.

  “How many of ‘em do you think’s left? Seems like we drew most of ‘em out to us,” Holden asked.

  “Don’t know. How’s your arm? I saw one of ‘em got its teeth in ya,” Bob asked him.

  “Fine, but he was right. They get their teeth in you and suck you harder and faster than a ten-dollar whore with an oral fixation.”

  The men laughed.

  Shaking my head at Holden, I caught up to Hunting Wolf’s side. He was tracking the night hunters. The bear shifter and werewolves accompanying us were doing the same thing with their noses. The sun had risen and was casting shadows against his antlers and onto the ground. Those shadows pointed like arthritic fingers toward a storm drainage pipe into which I had no desire to go.

  “Looks like this is the place. Smells like it, too,” Colby said.

  Seeing my expression, Hunting Wolf said, “You don’t have to go in with us.”

  Summing up each of the males with their heights, weights, and muscles, I said, “None of you will even fit inside.” I gaped at their surprised expressions in disbelief.

  Turning from me, Holden crouched down in front of the large cement pipe.

  Hunting Wolf said, “I intended to enter their nest and kill them all.” His deep, frighteningly demonic voice sounded petulant and disappointed.

  “I can go in and kill them all for you. Move over.”

  Hunting Wolf released his Wendigo form and shimmered into the sexy Native American male I had married. I forced my eyes away from the front of his jeans as an unwanted and familiar need began to heat me from within. I didn’t need to deal with werewolf mating urges at the moment. I growled at Holden until he took several steps back.

  “Here. Take these.” Kacey handed me a backpack.

  Taking it, I started to shake it to see what was inside.

  “No!” Kacey warned. “Careful. Those are grenades. Pull the pins, toss them, and crawl back out as fast as you can.”

  Getting down into a crouch, I crawled into the pipe. “Have I mentioned how very much I hate tight, enclosed underground spaces?”

  “Yes, Rozene. I’ll make it up to you,” Hunting Wolf promised.

  “How?”

  “Nachos and guacamole?”

  “Deal.” On my hands and knees, I trudged off into the dark, dank, dirty drainage pipe.

  Runoff, leaves, and the drained carcasses of dead rats, birds, and lizards were the trail I followed. What I found at the end of my journey was even more revolting. The night hunters slept in a sprawling pile amongst the sewage. During the night, we had managed to kill hundreds of the demonic spawn, but even in their sleep, they mated and reproduced. As I watched, an engorged night hunter split in two, and three starved ones with their eyes still sealed shut, clawed and ate their way out of their host’s abdominal cavity. While I found my current circumstances to be absolutely disgusting, I wasn’t afraid. I’d learned something during the course of battle. Unlike the Wendigoag, I wasn’t immortal. However, like the werewolves, I was damned near close. Therefore, there was no logical reason for me to be chicken-shit. Pulling off the backpack, I unzipped it and found four grenades inside. Once I had prepared myself to speed-crawl my way back out, I took a few steadying breaths, pulled the pins, and threw them into the nest with both hands.

  I was three-quarters of the way out of the pipe when it lit up, and I felt a deep thud shaking through my chest. With my eyes tightly closed, I kept crawling. Then, hands were grabbing me and pulling me free of my claustrophobic nightmare.

  “Good work, Rozene,” Hunting Wolf complimented.

  “Is it over? Tell me it’s over.”

  He said, “Almost. We need to find the portal they used and make it an unsavory means of entry for them into our realm.”

  “How?” Sam asked.

  “First, use your noses and sniff out anything sulfurous. Then, I’ll show you how it’s done.”
>
  Colby and Holden nodded to their men, who shifted and began to hunt. After they had loped away, four sets of eyes locked onto me as the mating heat started to burn me from within. Turning my back and striding away from them, a determination filled me to take control of my own body. I knew Holden had bitten me again to force me to shift in order to save me. However, it had made the urges to break my wedding vows exponentially greater. Having achieved some distance from his scent, I closed my eyes and concentrated. I had battled the ancient night hunters of which our Wendigoag brothers had told us, and I had destroyed their nest all on my own. There was no way in hell that I wasn’t strong enough to control the hormonal sexual desires of my supernatural form along with the frustrated sexual fantasies inspired by Elizabeth’s phantom memories.

  With my hands fisted at my sides, I shimmered into my true self, Mrs. Rozene Stillwater-Reeves, librarian’s assistant and secretary of Sheriff Avonaco of Silver Springs. Holding my chin high, I returned to the group of males who hadn’t ceased their observations of my internal and external battles. “Very well, then, explain the procedure for making their portal undesirable.”

  Sam grinned and chuckled at me. “There she is. That’s the girl I fell in love with and married.”

  I gave him a prim nod of my head. It was well past time that things returned to normal or whatever normal had become for our family. The sounds of large, barking dogs took me by surprise.