by Marc Daniel
He picked up the receiver and dialed her number. “Helen? This is Michael.”
“Good evening again, Michael. What’s up?”
He went straight to the point. “I was wondering if I could have a look at those DNA reports of yours. There may be something in them that could help me pinpoint the tigers’ origin.”
“Do you mean origin or identity?” The tone was matter of fact, the implications obvious.
It was no longer time for denial. “Maybe a bit of both,” he replied.
“When do you want to look at them?”
“I was hoping I could drop by your house now. Do you have them with you?”
“Of course. I didn’t want to leave this kind of information lying around the office.”
“I’m leaving now, I’ll be at your house in about forty-five minutes.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Michael grabbed the keys of his truck and left his cabin. He’d only taken one step onto his front porch when he was shot in the chest. His eyes went to the hypodermic needle embedded below his heart. The pressurized vial attached to it was already empty. The contraption looked like a larger version of the one he’d smuggled inside the penitentiary and had used against his now deceased enemy. The irony wasn’t lost on him.
Chapter 96
Sheila had been driving for thirty minutes and was still inside Yellowstone National Park when she noticed the headlights following her. A shiver ran through her body. Was one of the tigers behind the wheel of this vehicle? She’d thought about this eventuality as she’d slammed Michael’s door—and possibly the door on their relationship—but had hoped she wouldn’t be so unlucky. Of course, if Michael’s cabin had been under surveillance, they could have been following her ever since she’d left.
Flashing lights appeared in her rearview mirror and Sheila breathed a sigh of relief. This was a cop. Her car being the only vehicle on the road, it was pretty clear the lights were meant for her.
She checked her speed. Only five above the limit, but rangers tended to be pickier than city cops. They didn’t like tourists running over their beloved animals.
She slowed down and eventually stopped on the side of the road. She didn’t like the wooded area the cop had chosen to pull her over in. In broad daylight, the canopy-covered road bordered by woods on both sides was as bucolic as it got, but at night the setting seemed closer to that of a horror movie.
The cop stopped behind her but didn’t exit his vehicle right away. He was probably checking her plate. Sheila found herself wishfully thinking that it might be Michael coming to tell her everything was OK between them. But she knew that wasn’t the case.
A grey sedan travelling in the same direction Sheila had been a moment earlier carefully passed the two vehicles stopped on the side of the road before accelerating and disappearing around the next turn.
Checking her rearview mirror, Sheila saw the ranger approaching her car. She could tell it was a man, but his features were indistinguishable in the darkness. She checked between her seat and the central console and felt a bit calmer when her fingers found the handle of the gun hidden there.
“License and registration,” said the officer as she rolled down her window.
She handed the documents to him.
“You’re Michael’s friend, aren’t you?” said the man she’d recognized as Jason Parrish.
Sheila didn’t think this was the time and place to start explaining she was probably no longer Michael’s friend. “Yes. That’s me. And you’re his boss, right?”
“That’s correct, Ma’am,” he said, looking at the rental’s documents. “Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“I guess because I was speeding,” she offered tentatively.
“That’s correct. I got you doing fifty-one in a forty-five zone.”
Sheila was about to apologize when a cracking sound caught her attention. Before she had a chance to react, Parrish’s head came down hard on the side of the car and his body collapsed to the ground.
It took a second for Sheila’s brain to register what had just happened. When she finally realized that Jason Parrish had just been assaulted, her eyes nervously searched the night for his aggressor.
When the man’s head appeared in front of her open window, she screamed.
Chapter 97
Michael’s eyes went from the dart at the center of his chest to the shooter now standing a mere ten feet in front of him. Alexei’s wolfish grin finished convincing Michael that he should have paid closer attention to the interns. He knew he was standing in front of one of the Fida’I but still he couldn’t smell tiger on him. As Michael had suspected for some time now, Katia had provided some witch’s brew to the killers in order to mask their scent. It was one of the two wolfsbane extracts he’d found during his morning break-in. And now he’d just been shot with the second… the pure stuff. A potent toxin to all praeternaturals.
“Alexei, isn’t it?” said Michael, reaping the hypodermic needle out of his chest and discarding it nonchalantly. He wasn’t feeling the effect of the poison yet. Maybe he’d be able to take the killer down before succumbing to the wolfsbane.
“It’s not. I tend to not use my real name when I’m on an assignment.” The man’s Russian accent was completely gone. Michael wondered if it even were his true nationality.
The killer took a step towards him and Michael started morphing. If he could turn into his bear before the tiger finished his transformation, he’d have a big advantage over his adversary. The Fida’I initiated his morphing a second after Michael, but he’d fully turned into his tiger by the time the bear rammed into him.
Taken by surprise, the tiger tumbled to the ground, but he was back on his feet before Michael could reach him.
The two beasts circled each other slowly. Remembering that the cats liked to sever their victim’s spinal cord to paralyze them, Michael cautiously guarded the back of his neck. In his case, the paralysis would only be temporary, but it might last long enough for the tiger to finish him off.
Alexei feinted an attack on Michael’s left flank but changed direction at the last minute and jumped on his right side.
The bear pawed at him in midair, his razor-sharp claws cutting deep into the cat’s face and neck. The tiger roared in anger and pounced away to regroup, but Michael was on him in an instant. The two apex predators fought in an avalanche of fangs and claws. The cat was faster and more agile, but the bear compensated with his greater weight and impossible strength. After ten minutes of combat, neither one of them had managed to get an edge on the other.
Getting tired of the game, Michael lowered his guard ever so slightly, a move that left his throat somewhat open. The cat immediately took the bait and lunged for it. Michael, who had anticipated the move, sidestepped just fast enough for the tiger’s teeth to lock down on his right shoulder instead of his neck. He then wrapped his left paw around the tiger’s head and sank his claws into the killer’s skull before snapping his spinal cord with a powerful tug of his paw. He then proceeded to chew through the cat’s neck before his enemy had a chance to heal from the devastating wound.
Chapter 98
Sheila’s scream resonated in the dead of the night a long moment. She fumbled to find the gun, but she was torn out of the car before her fingers could close on the weapon.
“Where’s your boyfriend now?” asked the man. He appeared to be of Indian descent, or maybe Sri Lankan.
“He’s not here… but I am,” said a voice behind the man.
He spun around to find Daka standing ten feet behind him. The skinwalker was slowly walking towards the front of the car, making sure to maintain a good distance between himself and the killer.
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?” said Daka who’d recognized the man who’d attacked Lucy at the hospital.
“Yes… but we won’t meet again.” As he spoke the words, the man’s hand shot out and grabbed Sheila by the throat. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll deal
with you in just a moment,” he told Daka, as his fingers blocked the blood flow going to Sheila’s brain.
She was about to pass out from the lack of oxygen when Olivia’s wolf pounced on the killer and made him lose his grip on Sheila’s throat.
The man and the wolf tumbled to the ground and, before Sheila could catch her breath, Daka’s wolf had joined the fight. The two wolves were powerful, but the tiger was far stronger, even in his human form. He grabbed Daka by the throat and only released him when Olivia’s powerful jaw clamped down on his wrist.
He punched her in the snout and she yelped in pain as the bones in her muzzle cracked under the blow.
The killer got back to his feet just in time to deliver a powerful kick to Daka, who’d been about to pounce. The wolf went crashing against a nearby tree and stayed down, unconscious.
Olivia took advantage of the distraction to jump on the man’s back and latch onto his throat. She had a good hold and the man hollered in pain as her fangs searched for the carotid artery and found it. For a second, she thought she might get the better of him. But as he shifted into his tiger form, her hold wavered and she quickly found herself pinned to the ground under his impossibly powerful paws.
As the cat’s jaws severed her spine, Olivia’s last thought was for Daka.
*****
Sheila’s face was resting against the cold, damp road when she regained consciousness. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was and a few more to be able to sit back against her car. The ringing in her ears was such that she was effectively deaf for all intents and purposes.
Her eyes first landed on the inanimate shape of Daka’s wolf lying at the foot of a massive Douglas fir tree. She wondered if the wolf was Olivia or Daka. She had no idea.
Motion on her right caught her attention. She turned her head to find the tiger bent over a second wolf. The cat’s teeth were deep into the werewolf’s throat by the time Sheila managed to get back to her feet. The ringing in her ears was impairing her balance and she stumbled into the rental’s habitat, her hands frantically searching for the gun.
When her fingers finally closed on the weapon’s handle, she rushed out of the vehicle, gun trained towards the tiger. But she was too woozy to trust her aim. She needed to get closer.
The tiger was tearing mouthfuls of flesh from the wolf’s neck. At this pace there would be nothing left to tear in a few more seconds.
Sheila took an unsteady step towards the cat, then another. She was within ten feet of the tiger when his head turned towards her. The fur around his mouth was maculated with the blood of the wolf Sheila had finally identified as Olivia. He seemed to grin at the gun in her hands. Such a small weapon for such a big monster.
Leaving the mutilated wolf behind, the cat focused his attention on Sheila. She steadied her aim and pressed the trigger.
The cat barely flinched at the impact. When he pounced, Sheila was convinced her time had come. She was wrong, however, for Daka’s wolf intercepted the cat in midair with enough momentum to throw him off course. The two beasts tumbled to the ground as the tiger roared in frustration and swatted at the wolf. The cat’s claws slashed Daka’s flank, drawing blood and a yelp of pain from the wolf.
Daka was back on his paws in an instant, ready for another round of punishment, but the tiger was having trouble getting up. When he finally succeeded, he only took one step before collapsing to the ground. His breathing was heavy and labored.
“Where’s your grin now, asshole?” said Sheila belligerently.
The cat lifted his head and Sheila read incomprehension in his human eyes. “You don’t get it, do you? It was wolfsbane in that syringe I shot you with. The one still stuck to your back. It’s game over for you.”
Chapter 99
Michael arrived at Helen’s thirty minutes late. After his fight against Alexei, he’d hurried to hide the tiger’s body in the woods behind his house and had taken a quick shower. He doubted Helen would have understood if he’d shown up on her doorstep naked and covered in blood.
He knocked on the door and Helen opened it. She wasn’t wearing her uniform, but a summer dress that suited her very well. Against his will, Michael found his eyes drifting towards her cleavage which, for once, was plenty revealing.
“Come on in, Michael. Make yourself at home. I was about to make tea, would you like some?”
Michael accepted the offer and sat down in an armchair in the small but cozy living room. The file containing the DNA analyses lay open on the coffee table and Michael started perusing it.
Helen came out of the kitchen a moment later carrying two steaming white mugs. She placed them on the table and sat down on the couch across from Michael.
He grabbed a mug and took a sip. “Could I ask for more honey?”
“Sure. I thought I’d put enough in, but I’ll go get you some more,” she replied, chuckling. She had a warm laugh.
Michael’s cell phone rang and he picked up without checking the caller ID as Helen was bringing a jar of honey and a spoon from the kitchen.
“Daka? What’s going on?”
“I have some good news and some not so good, Michael.”
“Cut to the chase, Daka.”
“Sheila was attacked by one of the tigers.”
“Is she OK?” asked Michael, worry clearly perceptible in his voice.
“She’s fine, but it was a close call. Luckily Olivia and I were in the neighborhood. We were able to help. The tiger’s dead now.”
Michael sighed with relief and added two spoonsful of honey into a mug before noticing it wasn’t his. He looked at Helen apologetically, but she silently indicated she didn’t care and started drinking from it. Michael corrected his mistake by adding two spoonsful of honey to the mug in front of him.
“How’s Olivia?” he asked.
“Not good, but she’s going to make it. She hasn’t regained consciousness yet, but the tissues around her neck are slowly growing back. You know how it is.”
Michael’s eyes met Helen’s. Had she heard Daka? The triumphant look on her face suggested she had.
“Bring Olivia to my house, Daka. I’ll be over in a couple of hours.”
“A problem?” asked Helen, as Michael terminated the call.
“Not anymore. Actually, we’ve mostly solved our problems today. The two tigers we’ve been looking for will no longer be of concern.”
“Tell me more,” said Helen, scooching forward in her seat.
“I killed one of them two hours ago in front of my house. The second one was killed by friends of mine a few minutes ago. This park is officially tiger-free. I guess I won’t need to look at those DNA reports after all.”
Helen gave him a dubious look. “You don’t think you’re going to get away revealing so little info, do you?”
He took another sip of his tea before replacing the empty mug on the table. “I was hoping that would be the case,” he said, smiling, “but something tells me there isn’t much you don’t already know.”
“I have read the DNA reports and I’ve overheard a bit of your phone conversation…”
“And what are your conclusions?” asked Michael.
“I still can’t wrap my head around any of this, but it would seem that, against any scientific logic, you are part bear. And based on what I overheard your friend telling you on the phone, it sounds like Olivia isn’t quite human either?”
“She’s a werewolf. And I’m a werebear,” said Michael bluntly.
Helen looked flabbergasted. “How does that even work?”
“Quite simply really, but you already know all about it, don’t you, Katia?”
Helen looked up sharply, her eyes sinking into Michael’s. Her curious, slightly flirtatious demeanor had evaporated, leaving only cold hatred on her beautiful face.
“How long have you known?” she asked in a voice that sounded nothing like the one she’d used to impersonate Helen. Katia’s southern drawl was back.
“Not very long. You had me
fooled for weeks, Katia. I was too focused on your chameleon friend. I knew that he wasn’t in the park, so I thought everyone was as they appeared to be: at least in their human form. Despite those small scars on your face, it took me a long while to think about plastic surgery, especially since werewolves should regenerate their original appearance after such an operation, but I guess the witch’s brew has something to do with this miracle.”
“It does indeed. I’ve taken enough of the stuff to become undetectable to any praeternatural nose and enough to take a long, long time to heal. But I still do heal, Michael.”
“I suspected as much. That was one of the clues, really. You remember that evening when I found you crying alone by a hot spring? I suspect you’d just voluntarily reburned yourself because your scars were starting to fade away.”
“You’re smarter than you look. Humor me, what gave me away?”
“Motivation was the number one clue. From the beginning Katia was on the short list of people potentially seeking revenge against me. The systematic attacks on those I cared about seemed to indicate a very personal motive.”
“What I really wanted to do was to gut your Sheila under your very eyes. That’s all you deserve after what you did to David. But one must be pragmatic.”
“One should also be efficient, Katia; your grand plan didn’t work out too well.”
“Don’t celebrate too fast, Biörn. Your bitch isn’t out of the woods yet. Besides, I don’t think things are going great between the two of you… And let’s not forget Olivia’s sister. She is dead, isn’t she?”
Michael took a deep breath to recover his calm. He still needed answers from Katia and couldn’t strangle her just yet.
“Lucy’s dead. I’ll give you that, but what happened to the real Helen Fletcher?”
“She died in the car accident with her husband and daughter, of course. After we caused the crash, removing her body and taking her place was the easiest thing in the world. Once again the witch’s brew helped keeping my self-inflicted wounds and contusions looking fresh.” There was no humor in Katia Olveda’s toothy smile.