by Jamie Davis
“I was looking for Enric’s home, the Dryad chieftain in this valley. Do you know him?”
Again, a nod from the large cat.
“Can you take me to him or his family? I need their help.” Dean asked.
This time the head tilted again and then swung from side to side. So it was a no. He wondered why the shifter didn’t just turn back into a human form and talk to him normally. All but a very young shape-shifter could change back at will. The ability to shift forms came with adolescence and the swings in mood and emotion that came with puberty also made changing back and forth difficult for the younger shifters. The change could also be brought on by anything that altered mental status, but that wasn’t the case here.
“Why aren’t you shifting back to talk to me as a human?” Dean asked. “Are you too young to shift back until morning?”
Another nod confirmed his suspicions. Okay, so now he had a connection to the Unusual community, but he’d have to wait until the morning to talk to them. For now he was stuck communicating with the shape-changer with yes and no questions only.
Dean settled down on a large fallen tree trunk at the water’s edge and started thinking of ways to keep the conversation going. He wasn’t afraid of the big cat anymore, but he was afraid the kid would lose interest in this conversation with the lost human and go about his business, leaving Dean alone in the woods again. He was still contemplating questions to ask when he heard voices from behind him. The mountain lion stood back up and looked past him into the woods, then, with a quiet snarl, turned and bounded off into the darkness.
Dean turned the flashlight the other direction, towards where the voices were coming from. He thought he recognized them. He watched as Jaz and Joanna exited the tree line at the edge of the lake about a hundred feet away.
“See, I told you I could find him,” Jo said. “You shouldn’t doubt me. I have skills you don’t appreciate.”
“I didn’t doubt you, I just didn’t think it was a good idea to have another one of us wander off into the woods alone to get lost,” Jaz countered. “Anyway, yes, you did find him.” In the illumination of his flashlight, he could see she carried a large tactical shotgun with a folding stock, and he could see the hilt of her katana jutting up over her left shoulder. “You alright?”
“I’m fine,” Dean lied. “I was just taking a break. I found a lycan and we were talking when you showed up.”
Jaz cursed under her breath and swung the shotgun back and forth along the trees at the edge of the forest, searching for a target. Dean thought this was going to be an ongoing problem for them if Jaz just assumed that every Unusual was a potential target for her hunter skills.
“Jaz, it was a peaceful encounter,” Dean said. “Anyway, the kid ran off as soon as you two arrived. What are you doing out here? I was fine,” Dean lied again.
“Jo here said you had gotten lost, that she could sense it,” the hunter replied. “She was going to come out looking for you on her own and I couldn’t let her do that, so here we all are.”
“I wasn’t lost, exactly,” Dean explained. He was curious how the Wiccan girl had figured out that he was lost. He was pretty sure that sort of spell that required a certain level of intimacy or connection unless she was very powerful for her age. “I got turned around in the woods, but when I found the lake, I realized I could follow it back to the cabin. Then I met the lycan youth.”
“How do you know it was a young one?” Jaz asked. She was still watching the surrounding woods, scanning the area with her night vision charm for any movement.
“He or she couldn’t change back on their own until morning,” Dean said. “The ability to shift at will comes with age and practice. The kid was probably out for a normal night of hunting when he came upon me. I showed my tattoo and we started talking. Well I talked and asked simple questions. The lycan’s answers were just head bobs or shakes.”
“So what did you learn?” Jo asked. “Can we get help from the Unusuals here?”
“I think so. I was about to get to that part when you all showed up and scared the kid away.”
“So, are you ready to head back to the cabin, or did you want to stumble around in the dark a little bit more?” Jaz asked.
“Yeah, Dean,” Jo added. “At least let me cast a glamor on your eyes so you can see in the dark.”
“Uh, no spells, thank you,” Dean said. “I’m happy with my normal human abilities.”
He joined them as they walked back along the bank of the Lake. They only walked about five hundred feet before Jaz turned and led the group back to the cabin. Dean felt a little silly that they were so close to the cabin the whole time he was thinking he was lost. He decided to keep that thought to himself.
14
Dean woke up the next morning and stretched in the early morning light coming in the cabin’s first floor windows. He had taken the couch for the night, while the ladies shared the queen-sized bed upstairs in the single loft bedroom. He was a little stiff since the couch cushions weren’t all that soft or comfortable when it came to sleeping on them. He thought he was the only one up, but then the front door opened and Joanna came in from outside. She was carrying her sandals in one hand and a small bouquet of wildflowers in the other. She smiled at Dean when she saw him sitting up on the sofa.
“I didn’t want to wake you up. You looked like you could use the extra sleep,” the Wiccan girl said.
“You didn’t wake me,” Dean said. “I needed to get up anyway. I expect we’ll have visitors this morning after last night’s encounter with the lycan youth. What were you up to outside?”
“It’s a little morning ritual I like to do,” Jo said. “It helps me to stay grounded and remember who I am within the world.”
Dean did not know what to make of that. He hadn’t found much for himself in the spiritual realm. He didn’t begrudge it to those who believed in something larger than himself, but Dean had never been that guy. It was surprising considering his relationship with an angel and all.
“You should have let someone know you were going out, that’s all,” Dean said. “We have to stick together and know what each of us are doing if we are going to stay safe.
“I told Jaz when I got up,” the girl said. “I thought she might want to join me, considering what happened to her parents last night. It’s a great way to center yourself and lose the worries and cares of the world around you.”
“I don’t need to forget what happened,” Jaz said from the stairs as she descended to the first floor. “I need to keep focused to take the revenge called for by my parent’s death.”
“It was a fire, a gas explosion, Jaz,” Dean said. “The fire department told reporters that. It’s tragic, but it happens from time to time. I’m sorry for your loss, but not everything is an attack. It could have been an accident.”
“It wasn’t an accident,” Jaz said with firm belief in her words. “I don’t believe in coincidences, and this is too closely related to the time we were attacked at the diner and went on the run. There have been many attacks over the years that have reduced our numbers. This was a final step to remove the Errington clan, once and for all.”
“She’s not wrong, Dean,” Jo added. “The revenants want to bring on the end of the world ahead of schedule. They need certain players out of the way in order to do that. It’s why they took Ashley.”
Jaz looked over at Joanna. “You mentioned the revenants before. How do you know they are behind this?”
“Very powerful revenants control several levels of the netherworld and would love to be able to freely cross the wards that keep the worlds separate,” Jo answered. “I was told by my coven leader that revenants sought a breach in the wards between our worlds.”
“I still can’t believe I didn’t know anything about these revenants until now,” Dean said.
“You had all those books on Unusuals, myths, and legends at the Station, Dean,” Jo said. “Why didn’t you learn more about what you could run in to?”
<
br /> “I paid attention to the living and corporeal creatures I was likely to see on my calls,” Dean replied. “I didn’t pay much attention to the part about ghosts and creatures from beyond the grave. And how do you know about the library at Station U, anyway?”
“Uh, I mean, doesn’t everyone?” the teen replied. “Anyway, we need to find out where the revenants are holding Ashley. The coven’s scrying told us they plan to leech her power away and use it to open a permanent hole in the wards between our worlds.”
Dean thought for a moment. “So these revenants are the ones sending the Oni demons after me. Why?”
“We have to figure that out,” Jaz said, “among other things. The attack on my family, the attacks on you, and Ashley’s disappearance are all tied together. Once we find the common threads we’ll.…”
A knock at the cabin door interrupted her thoughts. Dean turned to answer the door, but Jaz drew her pistol and jumped in front of him, picking up her katana where it was propped by the door. When she was set with sword and pistol in hand, she nodded to Dean to answer.
A glance through the peephole in the door showed two men. Well, actually a man and a teen boy of about fourteen or so. Dean looked at Jaz, shrugged and opened the door.
“Uh, can I help you?” Dean asked.
“My son said you were here and maybe in some kind of trouble,” the man said. When Dean looked at the boy and then back to the father, the man continued. “He said you met last night by the lake?”
“Oh, the lion,” Dean said. “Please come in.” He stepped back and gestured to the pair. The father led the way and the boy followed. The man stopped and Dean heard a growl deep in the man’s throat. He shot a glance back at Dean, showing his teeth.
“You invite us in, but have an armed hunter waiting to kill us?” the man said. He crouched and turned to snarl at Jaz. She shifted to a defensive stance and raised her sword up over her head.
Dean jumped between the two of them. He pressed his hands outwards to stop both of them from advancing on each other. “Stop. Stop right now. I mean it,” Dean shouted.
He looked back and forth between the two. Jaz looked ready to kill Dean on the way to the pair of shifters. Her eyes were blazing in fury at him. The man was no less angry but they had halted their advance on each other.
“Jaz, put the sword down,” Dean said. “These people have done nothing to harm us. The boy was the lion I met last night during his shifted travels.” Dean turned his head towards the man, “Sir, we mean you no harm. We have traveled a long way, and have had troubles with those who follow us. That is why she answers the door armed.”
Jaz started to lower her blade, but didn’t really relax. The man took a step backwards, though Dean noticed that the fingernails on his hands were slightly elongated and ended in points. He had partially shifted. Still, he had not attacked, and they were ready to talk, not fight, and that was a step in the right direction.
“I’m Dean, Dean Flynn. I’m a paramedic from Elk City.” He held up his right hand to show the tattoo to the father.
“I’m Albion Nutt and this is my son Arlo,” the man said. “Arlo says you talked to him and he said you needed assistance. He said you mentioned the Eldara who visits this place?”
“Yes, Ashley Moore. She is a good friend of mine.” Dean said. “She is missing and in our quest to find her, her abductors attacked us. We were forced to flee here to plan our next actions.”
“Way to go, telling everyone our whole plan, Dean,” he heard Jaz mutter.
Jo came over and introduced herself.
The man looked at the three of them and gave Dean a crooked grin. “You three are an odd group of companions to quest for a missing Eldara.”
Jaz said, “Don’t get me started. It wasn’t my idea.”
That comment made Albion laugh out loud. He kept laughing until he noticed the others staring at him. “I’m sorry. I know this is no laughing matter to the three of you. The whole valley is honored by the visits of the Eldara to this region. It makes us proud that she would choose our quiet lake and forest to make a place of rest and solitude in-between her travels. Of course we will help you.”
Albion looked to Dean, “Have you tried to reach out to the Dryads? Their patriarch is the leader of the vale, Enric. He would know best how to help you.”
Dean smiled. “That was where I was headed last night when I got turned around in the woods and ended up by the lake with your son.”
“Well, we can take you there now, if you’d like?” Albion offered.
“I would like that,” Dean replied.
“We would like that,” Jaz said after clearing her throat. She looked at Dean. “I’m not letting you get lost traipsing around the woods again. We’ll all go together.”
“If that is your wish,” Albion said. Dean thought he seemed uncertain about taking the hunter along on the trip to Enric’s house but decided not to argue about it.
“Albion, my interest in this quest are no less important than Dean’s. My family owes the Eldara a debt of honor and I would repay that for my family.” She stopped for a moment and stared off past Dean for a moment, gathering herself before continuing on. He knew she must still be reeling from the apparent loss of her parents last night. The fact that she refused to break their radio silence to check on them was a surprise to Dean, but she said that it would only serve to pinpoint them to the enemy.
“A debt of honor I understand,” Albion said with a nod. “May I have your assurances that you mean no one in the valley harm?”
“I mean harm to none who don’t wish to harm us,” she replied. She met the werelion’s eyes. The two considered each other for a time and then the elder shapeshifter nodded, as did Jaz. That was settled.
“So, when can we get started?” Dean asked. “I’d like to see Enric, Anya and their family again.”
“You know them?” Albion asked, then he snapped his fingers on one hand. “Of course. You are the paramedic who was here and helped heal Enric’s daughter, Zora.”
“That’s me.”
“I’m sure they will want to see you as well, then,” Albion said. “They talk about how you helped the Eldara and were her chosen companion. A great honor. Let us go, then.”
Dean agreed and he, Jaz, and Jo gathered their limited things for a walk in the woods. For Dean, that meant his duty jacket. He was still wearing his uniform from the previous night. He had no additional clothes. Jo had a few things in her shoulder bag, but not much. Jaz was the most prepared for their sudden departure from Elk City. She had a full evacuation kit in the back of her SUV that didn’t just include bundles of cash. She had several changes of clothes and the two large cases that Dean had helped her carry into the cabin the night before. She would not tell him what the contents of the cases were and he was not sure he wanted to know.
Jaz slipped her sword belt over her shoulders so that it settled across her back with the hilt jutting up diagonally over her left shoulder. She already had her pistol holstered on her left side and what she called her small Bowie knife on her belt on the right side. Albion waited while she gathered her leather jacket, which showed a brace of throwing knives still attached by Velcro to the interior of it.
“Are you expecting trouble, huntress?” the shifter asked. “I assure you that none in this valley mean you harm if you come in peace.”
“If those who seek us come for us, you will be glad I have come prepared,” Jaz said. “Let’s go.”
Albion and Arlo led the way out of the cabin and Dean brought up the rear, locking the door behind him and pocketing the key instead of replacing it under the fake plastic rock by the front porch where he had retrieved it the night before. He had wondered when they arrived how they would break in to the cabin but Jo got out and went right to the rock even in the darkness and giggled with glee when she came up with the key. He figured she had used some spell to find it.
The five of them headed off into the woods, this time in daylight, seeking the Dryad c
abin.
15
The journey to the Dryad community did not take that long. The tree fairies lived deep inside the forest and occupied a cabin built into a wooded hillside. Dean knew the rooms extended deeper into the hill than most would expect. Albion, Dean and Jaz were silent on the twenty-minute walk through the trees. Jo and Arlo, however, chattered the whole way there. She asked him about where he went to school and when he said he was taught at home by his mother, she laughed and said that she was home schooled, too, after a fashion.
Dean listened to the conversation with some amusement at how easily teens connected with each other. It was also the most he had heard about Joanna’s family life or where she came from since they had met the night before. When Dean and Jaz had questioned her about it, she was evasive and did not give any direct answers to their queries. He wished they were walking longer because of what he might learn from the teens’ conversation.
As they entered the clearing where the front of the cabin showed from the hillside, Dean recognized it right away. There was no one outside so Albion went up and knocked on the door. “Enric, Anya, come out. It is Albion and some guests.”
There was no answer, and Dean and the others looked around the clearing for some sign of the Dryads. Albion knocked again. As he stood waiting, the door burst outward, knocking Albion backwards from the covered wooden porch. Then the Oni demon was on top of him. Dean watched as the shifter transitioned immediately to his mountain lion form and then the scaled demon and the enormous lion were rolling on the ground, in a snarling and roaring battle for their lives.
Dean didn’t have much time to watch. Two more demons burst from the cabin’s doorway and ran out at them. He saw Arlo shift form and join his father against the demon he was fighting. The sudden violence caused the shift to happen spontaneously. He heard shots to his left and saw Jaz, pistol in a two-handed grip, drop one of the charging demons with a full magazine worth of bullets into its head. He knew it wouldn’t stay down for long from the experience at the diner the night before.