by M. J. Caan
“Well, I don’t know anything,” said the sheriff, turning his back to them. “Max is in the holding cell, third door down on your right. Not my fault if curiosity seekers wander around back there…” With that, he left the room, making his way towards the front of the police station where there was still considerable commotion going on.
“Come on,” Torie said, taking Fionna and Jasmin by the hands as they rushed out of the room and towards the back of the building.
Each room they passed was dark and silent, but the third room was dimly lit with a single can light recessed into the ceiling. Inside the room was a single, metal desk with what looked like built-in handcuffs attached to it. Behind the desk was a cell with iron bars and an intimidating padlock securing the door.
Inside, on a single cot suspended from the wall by a set of chains, sat Max. He was cross-legged, his head down, staring at his hands which were clasped in his lap. They were dark brown, and it took Torie a moment to realize they were stained with dried blood.
Taylor’s blood.
The bastards hadn’t even let him clean up.
“Max,” whispered Jasmin, loud enough that she knew he could hear her. He didn’t respond and, for a brief moment, Torie wondered if he were still alive.
She sighed relief as he shifted in place, but he still refused to look up at the women.
“Max, are you okay?” Jasmin asked. She walked over to the cell and placed her hands on the bars. “Max, we’re here to help you, but you have to talk to us.”
Still no response. Jasmin stepped back and glanced at Torie, shrugging her shoulders.
Torie stepped up to the cell, taking Jasmin’s place. “Max, we know you didn’t do this. We have a lead; Elric and I found something down in Trinity that is going to help prove you didn’t do this.”
“You found something?” said Jasmin. “Why didn’t you lead with that? You could have told me.”
Torie gave her an exasperated look, pointing at Max silently with her hand. Jasmin nodded, motioning for her to continue.
Quieting her thoughts as much as she could, Torie reached out with her mind. She had no way of knowing if it would work with him or not. When she had communicated telepathically with Elric it had just happened.
Max…can you hear me? she asked silently.
He didn’t answer, but she saw a change in his posture; his back stiffened slightly and his head cocked to one side just a little.
If you can hear me, you have to help us help you. We have a plan, but in order to do it, we need to know what happened with…with Taylor. I’m sorry she is dead. I understand how you felt about her.
No, came his reply. His thoughts were all wolf voice now, deep and guttural as they blasted into her mind. No, you do not know how I felt about her. You don’t know, because I don’t understand what I felt. Wolves mate for life…we are fated to other wolves. But for some reason…I felt Taylor on a level that I can’t explain.
His head dropped and his body began to rock slowly; it was obvious he was racked with pain. Torie probed, trying to understand the emotions he, and by extent she, was feeling.
Grief overwhelming everything else. And regret.
It’s okay, Max, I know how you feel. It’s hard looking back and thinking about all the small moments where you could have made a change…especially when that change would have had a profound impact on the present. We all have our ‘what if’ moments. But you can’t dwell on that, because I doubt there is any magic in the world that can change the past.
He looked up, tears streaking his face as his eyes came into focus. He wept openly as he stood and made his way to the bars, placing his hands on Torie’s and resting his head against the iron, his forehead touching hers.
Together they cried; he for a love that might have been, her for a love she had let slip away.
“You…you mourn your husband, that he got away from you?” Max said aloud.
Torie shook her head, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“No. My mother. I am mourning the time we should have had.” She offered him a weak smile and patted his hand through the bars. “Now. We are going to get the murdering asshole who did this. Are you up for some vengeance?”
His eyes mirrored Fionna’s as his whole being filled with a single desire; to tear the killer limb from limb.
“You need to tell us what happened,” said Torie. “There might be something in the details that could help us.”
He took a deep breath, forcing his mind to retread painful memories.
“I was with Glen. We had just returned to her house from the hospital. Everything there checked out, so we knew that was a dead end. Suddenly, I had this feeling…I can’t really explain it. I’m an alpha and I have a sense for when anyone in my pack is in danger. It’s an empathic bond that we all share. But this time, it wasn’t Elric that I sensed; it was Taylor.
“I can’t explain why or how, but I knew she was in danger. I think I am…was…fated to be with her. And though she fought it, she felt it too.” He looked at Fionna, his eyes soft and sorrowful. She only nodded; admitting what the wolf sensed and had never acknowledged.
“I knew that whatever was happening to her, it had to be life-threatening for it to ring out to me like that. I don’t even remember shifting to my wolf form; one minute I was standing there talking to Glen, and the next I was a mile away, racing through the fields.
“I had never been to Taylor’s house, but I was drawn to her. I knew the farmhouse in the distance was where she was, and I could feel her screaming out to me. I leapt through the window, crashing into the house just as a figure dressed in black stood up. He had been hunched over Taylor…doing something to her.
“I saw red as I gave myself over to my wolf completely. I lost all sense of self as I charged him. I jumped, landing on him and shifting into my hybrid form. I think, for some reason, a part of me thought I would have a better chance against him if I had hands as well as fangs.
“I was wrong. He…it…whatever, was so strong and fast. It caught me in mid-air, like I was nothing. One hand around my throat, then, moving faster than I could follow, it hit me. I saw stars, maybe even blacked out for a second. The next thing I know, I woke up lying next to Taylor.”
He stopped to gather himself, swallowing hard. “She was bleeding out. Her throat had been slashed, her body…looked like…” He couldn’t finish, and all of the women in the room were thankful for that. “Anyway, I picked up her body, cradling it…I just wanted to hold her, that was all. That’s when I heard the front door smash in and the officer came in, gun drawn, telling me not to move.
“So I didn’t. I didn’t move.”
“That description sounds a lot like the same character we caught at the vet’s office in Trinity,” said Torie. “But how could it have gotten from Trinity to Singing Falls so quickly?”
“Whatever it was, it reeked of magic,” said Max. “It was fast…way faster than me or any shifter I’ve ever come across.”
“So how do we lure it into the open?” asked Fionna.
“I think the bigger question is why is it attacking again? Why Taylor?” implored Jasmin.
Torie’s eyes lit up. “We’re getting too close to it for comfort.” She dug into her pocket and fished out the piece of paper she had carried from Isla Garner’s office and handed it over to Jasmin. “This thing killed Ellie because she knew something. Whatever this is was a clue I believe.”
Jasmin studied it intently. “You got this from the vet?”
“Yes. It’s the same information that Ellie had and was bringing to you the day she was killed. Do you know what it is?”
“I just might,” she replied. “We need to get to your mother’s house.”
“What? Why there?” asked Torie.
“Your mother was the most talented potion maker I ever met,” said Jasmin. “You name it, she could make a potion for it. I’m betting she has these ingredients at her workshop. If I can get them, see what exactly they can be combi
ned for, it might tell us even more about the killer.”
“But what does any of this have to do with Taylor?” questioned Fionna.
Torie took her hand. “Nothing. If we are getting close, then this thing is trying to take some of the heat off itself.” She turned and looked at Max. “By framing him.”
“You can’t go after this thing alone,” said Max. “There’s no way you’re a match for it.”
“Well, we still have Elric on our side,” said Jasmin.
The mention of his beta made Max even more uneasy. “No. I’ve already lost one person I care about today. I won’t allow it to happen to another.”
“Well, you’re stuck in here for the time being, so there isn’t much else we can do,” said Torie.
Max arched an eyebrow at her before placing his hands on the bars again. He groaned, his muscles tightening as he slowly began to spread the bars apart until there was an opening big enough for him to step through.
“Wow,” said Torie. “You’re a lot stronger than you look.”
“You better get your skinny ass back in that cell!” said Jasmin.
“But he can help us,” said Torie.
“Bitch, I am not going to jail for no wolf. We were the last ones back here with him, there is no way they won’t pin his escape on us. Besides, if we take him with us, they’ll know where to come looking for him. We can’t help anyone with that kind of heat.”
As much as she hated to admit it, Torie knew leaving Max in jail was the best option for the moment. She reached out with her mind and told him to stay put for now. She also promised that she would do everything in her very limited power to protect Elric. She didn’t want to see anyone else in this town get hurt, especially not someone she was just getting to know and like.
Max sensed that last sentiment and gave her a questioning look. In return, her cheeks flamed crimson and she turned away as he stepped back into his cell and bent the bars back into place.
“What was that about?” queried Jasmin.
“What?” said Torie, playing dumb in a too obvious kind of way.
“Well, we have a lot to talk about it seems. But not now. First, we have a trap to set.”
“Yes,” replied Torie, “and I think I know just how to do it.”
“Hey,” said Max. “I have one last thing that might be of help to you.”
“Oh, what’s that?” said Torie.
“I bit the bastard.”
Jasmin’s eyes widened as she began to rummage around through her purse. She found a small vial that contained a perfume sample from the local Bath and Beauty shop. She quickly emptied it out and handed the vial to Max.
He began to shift, but just enough that he was still mostly human, only his head and jawline turned more bestial as he took the vial and brought it to his mouth. He retched hard as a dark liquid spilled from his mouth into the vial. Shifting back to his human form, he handed it to Jasmin.
“Blood sample,” he said. “Maybe you can use it to help track him down.”
“Well that’s just all kinds of nasty,” said Jasmin, placing the vial back in her bag and shaking her head.
22
Lights flashed in Fionna’s face and she blinked rapidly, trying to keep them from blinding her.
The assemblage of press was more than Torie had imagined it would be, but the story of a crazed serial killer on the loose in a small, bucolic town was starting to gather national attention. They all clamored, calling out to Fionna who stood in front of the porch of Torie’s mother’s house.
“Be sure to stand far enough away from the house that the cameras can catch enough detail to identify the location of the home,” Torie had told her. “We want the killer to see where we are.”
The thought of that seemed to run opposite to what Fionna’s instinct told her. As much as she wanted vengeance, she didn’t relish the thought of putting herself in such a vulnerable position.
With Jasmin at her side, she put on a brave face for the cameras.
Raising her hands, Jasmin implored the crowd to quieten. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming over like this. As some of you who live in this town may know, we are all saddened by the senseless killing of one of our own. As you also know, this isn’t the first time, or even the second, that this has happed. This is Fionna Gate. She is the best friend of the latest victim, and she has something to say.”
Fionna cleared her throat and stepped up. “I am here to say that, while I am grateful to the Singing Falls Police Department for attempting to bring Taylor’s killer to justice; I want them and everyone listening to know this: they have the wrong man in custody.”
There was a murmur that passed through the crowd, followed by more camera flashes and a barrage of questions.
Again, Jasmin held up her hands before motioning for Fionna to continue.
“You are probably wondering how I know this. Well, I have proof of what I am saying. The killer left behind a piece of evidence that I collected from Taylor’s house. It aligns with more evidence we were able to get from a source in Trinity Cove. I have already called the federal authorities about this. Not the branch in Trinity, mind you. They will be here tomorrow to discuss the matter, and I can assure you justice will be served.”
With that, she turned and went back into the house, careful to give the press one last coy look over her shoulder as she shut the door, leaving Jasmin to deal with the throng of hungry reporters demanding to know more.
“Holy crap,” she said to Torie, letting out a deep breath. “That was scary.”
“Well, it looks like you certainly kicked a hornets’ nest,” said Jasmin as she came inside, hurriedly closing the door after. She took her phone out of her pocket and smiled as she flicked it to life, raising it to her ear. “Well hello, Dwayne Arsenio Smith. That didn’t take long.”
She brought the phone away from her ear and rolled her eyes as the sheriff’s voice carried throughout the living room.
“Look, it’s okay…no, of course there are no federal authorities coming…yes I know that…it had to be done…I am sorry for how this makes your department look, but in all honesty, if you were doing a better job at catching this killer, we wouldn’t have had to take things into our own hands.”
With that, she flicked at the screen with her thumb, disconnecting the call.
“Man, I really miss my flip phone at times like this. There was nothing like the feel of snapping it shut on A-holes like that.”
“So I did okay?” asked Fionna.
“Girl, you did an amazing job,” said Jasmin. “If I was a killer, I’d be on my way over right now to cut your ass.”
That elicited a round of nervous groans from everyone.
“Don’t worry,” said Elric, “it won’t come to that. Whatever is doing this will not get close enough to hurt you. I promise.” His eyes flashed yellow for a split second. That, added to the tone in his voice, sent shivers up Torie’s spine.
“Okay, we have to act fast. We only have a few hours before sundown and I’m betting the killer will strike then.”
“But what if he or she knows it’s a trap?” worried Fionna.
“Already covered that,” said Torie, nodding in Jasmin’s direction.
“Yes,” said Jasmin, “one of the reporters out there is not only a community member but also a friend of the family, if you will. She’s a deer shifter and is just as anxious as we are to see this ended. She’s going to ‘leak’ a story that you’re staying here with Torie tonight, and that according to rumors, the local PD is so angry with you for not turning over any evidence you have, they are refusing to provide you protection.”
“Sounds forced,” said Torie, “do you think it will work?”
“I’m betting it will. The killer is becoming frantic. Why else would they risk attacking Taylor in broad daylight just to frame a werewolf? They have to know that Ellie was coming here to tell your mother what she knew…all of this should be too much for them to resist. They’ll definitely
show up at some point.”
“And when they do,” said Elric, “They’re going down.”
Torie took a deep breath. “Okay, before we get too cocky, let’s remember that whatever this thing is, it was faster than you, and stronger than Max.”
Elric only stared at her, then made his way into the kitchen alone.
Fionna started after him, only to be stopped by Torie.
“I got it,” she said, following after the wolf.
He was standing, hands clasped behind his back as he looked out one of the windows.
“Hey, what’s going on, Elric? Talk to me.”
“I hate this,” he said, not turning to face her. “I feel so weak and inept.”
Torie nodded, wishing she could take back the words she had said in the living room. “And in your mind, I just confirmed that you are less than whatever it is we are facing. I’m sorry for that.”
“Don’t be,” he replied. “I know you didn’t mean it the way that I took it; but you have to realize, all my life I’ve only followed. I never lead. That is the life of a beta. I hate my station; always seen as less than. Not an equal to Max and now not an equal to a supernatural killer either.”
Torie thought for a moment, an idea flashing through her mind.
“Elric, what exactly is it that binds you to Max? Why can’t you be your own man? Have you ever thought about just starting your own life?”
This time he turned to face her, a weary smile barely crossing his features. “If only it were that easy. But you were right when you said we are bound together. The bond between wolves, especially the one that governs alpha and beta, runs deep. It is mystical in nature.”
“Well, then maybe it’s a good thing that you’re surrounded by witches. If it was created by magic, maybe the bond can be severed by magic. If that’s what you want.”
He stared at her, unsure what to say.
“I’ve never been offered a choice in anything,” he said. “I truly don’t know how to respond to that. Even if it were possible…what would I be?”
“More than what you are now.” She moved closer to him. “And who’s to say you’d have to go through it alone? There’s a whole community here built on mutual support. You said you and Max were looking for a place to belong; maybe this is it.”