Aareth stood on her left, both hands slipping into the mage-powered gauntlets dangling from his belt.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Jack
“So what do you think about all of this?” Jack asked his father.
“I don’t know, son. I think that we’re still very far from finding the truth.”
The two sorcerers had left the preacher’s house right after Sloan and Aareth and headed straight for the woods. The city was surrounded on all sides by thick, forested terrain and rolling hills. A large mountain range rose to the sky a few miles behind the city.
Jack was already feeling at home. He was accustomed to the noises and smells of the forest landscape. Where most people would give themselves whiplash from twisting their heads at every snapping twig or grunting animal, Jack knew exactly what the sounds meant and where they came from.
This was the first hint that something was wrong. This particular forest near Burrow Den was unusual in that not as many animals inhabited the area. Jack was used to seeing a dozen or more different animals by now, including unicorns, rabbits, squirrels, birds, and others. So far, he had caught sounds of just a handful of these creatures.
“They’re scared of something,” Jack said, more to himself than his father. “It’s too quiet out here.”
“More than that, Jack. They’re terrified. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
The tone in his father’s voice made him turn his head. Jack gave his father his full attention. Marcus was staring into the distance, like he could see through the trees themselves.
“We need to pick up this thing’s trail. Everything else, all of the answers to our other questions, will follow.”
Jack obeyed, turning his attention to the forest floor. Jack often compared his job as a tracker to that of an inspector or detective. Everything around him was his crime scene and it was up to him to find the clues.
Jack and Marcus traveled deeper and deeper into the forest. They examined any and all game trails and small outlets that led ever deeper into the forest. It had been hours and still there was no sign of an animal that would be big enough to kill a human being.
The younger sorcerer brushed his thick brown hair back as his mind wandered from the trail back to Abigail. Jack had never had a real girlfriend before, and at his age, he thought that was pitiful. Not only was he extremely clumsy when it came to talking to the opposite sex, but his father always moved. For sorcerers, with their skill set, tracking and hunting jobs took Jack and Marcus all over the Outland. They were never in one place more than a few weeks, maybe a month, before it was time to move once again.
Perhaps this time, things could be different. There was a strength in Abigail that Jack admired. If this job took more than a week or two, that would give him a chance to really get to know her.
Jack was so wrapped up in thought, he missed the huge print right in front of him and stepped in it instead. The section of the path he traveled ran close to a small stream. The bank was muddy and soft, allowing impressions to be easily formed. What made Jack look down in the first place was the suction of his boot to the muddy terrain.
“Ummm… Dad?” Eyes wide, he looked at the size of the print he stepped in. He saw two more gigantic prints before they were lost in the water. “You should see this.”
Marcus followed parallel to his son, further from the stream. The older sorcerer was there in a minute, wearing a vexed expression Jack wasn’t used to seeing.
There was a moment of silence as Marcus squatted down and placed his hand a few inches over the large print. The print dwarfed the sorcerer’s hand by more than double. Just like the drawing Jack had seen in New Hope, he was amazed by the similarities the paw print shared with the average wolf.
This track, however, was far bigger than any wolf print he had ever seen, and it was even larger than the drawing in New Hope.
“It’s huge,” Jack breathed, trying to conjure up an image of how large the animal would have to be to fit paws of that size.
“It’s larger than a bear and definitely bigger than the drawing we saw of the paw in New Hope.”
“You think there’s more than one?”
“Either that,” Marcus stood and scratched the underside of his jaw, “or whatever this is—it’s growing.”
Jack’s mind went a hundred different directions trying to find an answer to this mystery when both men heard a loud female laugh behind them.
Jack wheeled around, wand in hand. Elizabeth stood a few yards away, her fiery red hair surrounding her like a cape.
“Wait,” she said with a smile, placing both hands in the air. “I surrender, and I thank you, Jack.”
Jack felt his heart beating like a war drum deep in his chest. Adrenaline was beginning to ebb, and he lowered his wand.
“Elizabeth.” Jack holstered his wand. “You have to be careful. You can’t sneak up on us like that. You could have gotten hurt. And thank me for what?”
“Because I saw you last night out late talking to my sister.” Elizabeth ignored everything Jack said except his last question. “You were so nice to her. You should have definitely tried to kiss her. I think she likes you.”
Jack stood stunned, not daring to move a muscle. His eyes darted first to his father to see what his reaction would be. Next, his mind processed the new information that Abigail and Elizabeth were sisters, if he chose to believe Elizabeth.
“Late night chats, huh?” Marcus drew a finger across his throat. “Better not let the captain find out.”
Jack cringed at his father and was about to apologize before Elizabeth interrupted again. Walking up to the two men, she was wearing a dark brown leather skirt and top with tall black boots.
“What are you guys out here looking for? Are you looking for the laboratory?”
“What laboratory?” Marcus asked.
Elizabeth gave Marcus a look that said he should know exactly what she was talking about and was disappointed in him because he didn’t.
“Get out.” Elizabeth pointed behind her with an outstretched finger. “I mean it for your own safety.”
“Excuse me?”
“Get out. If you don’t know about the laboratory, then you shouldn’t even be in the woods, ‘cause they’re gonna get you good.”
Jack was still caught up on the fact that Elizabeth and Abigail were sisters. Elizabeth’s cryptic words went right over his head.
“Wait a minute, Elizabeth, let me get this right. Abigail is your sister and Elijah is your father?”
“Yep.” Elizabeth gave Marcus another disappointed look before she turned to Jack. “Weird, right?”
Jack examined Elizabeth closer. Maybe it was just because he knew now, but he could see a resemblance. Their hair color was, of course, off, but skin tone and even the freckles were similar.
“Elizabeth?” Marcus drew the young girl’s attention back to the subject at hand. “Can you show us this laboratory?”
“Okay.” Elizabeth placed a finger on her chin, deep in thought. “But first, it’s time to pay the payer guy.”
Marcus looked at her with a blank stare and Jack had to stifle a laugh despite their circumstances.
“Okay, and how do I do that, Elizabeth?”
“You and Jack owe me one. I’ll collect later.”
“Come on, you two.” Elizabeth turned and started heading deeper into the woods. Without even looking back, she called out. “Wait till you get a load of this. It’s going to make you poop your pants.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Sloan
“Who’s back there?” Sloan yelled over the dark wooden bar. “Get up now with your hands in the air.”
There was a tense moment of only silence. Sloan debated vaulting over the counter and confronting whatever it was head on. Then two hands were slowly raised and the man that had argued with Elijah the day before at the town meeting stood up.
“I’m—I’m sorry.” He was shaking, clearly terrified as he stutter
ed. “I heard you coming and I panicked.”
Sloan lowered her sword but still eyed the short man. He was older with a bald head and a groomed white beard. A grey vest covered his black shirt. From the waist down, he was hidden by the bar.
Sloan looked at Aareth, who shrugged and also lowered his fisted gauntlets.
“Okay, come on out,” she ordered. “Slow and easy.”
The man eyed them suspiciously as he stumbled from behind the counter, his arms still in the air. Sloan did her best not to smile as the man wobbled in front of them like a monkey. In a minute, he stood before them, eyes wide in fear.
“You can put your arms down now. What’s your name and why were you hiding behind the bar?”
“My name is Benjamin Clive.” The little man gulped visibly as he lowered his arms. “I live in town. I have a shoe repair shop where I work, right out of my home. I’m, uh—I’m here because—Well, I might as well tell you. I’m dead anyway. I came here looking for a drink and to hide from the monster that the Divine has sent to terrorize our town.”
“Just when we thought this couldn’t get any more confusing.” Aareth made a beeline behind the bar, looking for unbroken glasses and liquor.
“You think some kind of god has sent this creature?” Sloan ignored Aareth’s comment; instead, she directed her attention to the man in front of her.
“How else do you explain the attacks and the people targeted? Oh, I shouldn’t have spoke out against the preacher during last night’s meeting. Now I’m afraid I’ve doomed myself.”
Aareth found three mugs that seemed to have escaped the mayhem surrounding them and placed them on the bar. He looked pleased with himself as he poured generous amounts of whisky in each mug. “Well, if you’re going to die anyway, might as well have a drink.”
Benjamin Clive looked at Sloan first. She nodded and he wasted no time in righting a fallen stool and taking the mug in both hands. Sloan raised her eyebrows as the man took long, burning draughts of the fierce liquid.
Aareth motioned for Sloan to come and take a cup.
“I think I’ll pass. I’m not much of a drinker at nine in the morning, while I’m supposed to be working.”
“Oh well.” Aareth shook his head like that was the craziest thing anyone ever told him and clinked mugs with Benjamin Clive. “More for us.”
“Benjamin.” Sloan walked over and stood next to Benjamin Clive. She pulled the list Elijah made them with names of all the deceased as well as the eyewitnesses. “This is a list we compiled with all the names of people who have died at the hands of the creature and those who have seen it. How accurate is it?”
“It looks correct. My god. When you see the people you used to know written down like this—I mean, they’re all dead now. They’re just names on a list.”
“Benjamin,” Aareth poured both of them another glass of the dark whisky, “can you tell us what all these people did for a living? You said that people were being targeted?”
Benjamin nodded slowly and reached into his vest, pulling out a small pen. The man went to work over the paper, writing occupations next to all of the names.
“That’s right. When the attacks happened, people didn’t know what to think. Every possibility has been explored by now. From completely random attacks by a bear, all the way to killings from a wolf pack. But it makes the most sense to think the beast was sent as a curse to this town from the Divine.”
“Benjamin,” Sloan let the man finish but couldn’t hold her tongue, “there’s only one God and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t single out small towns and terrorize them by sending demon creatures down to kill people for fun.”
“Well, how do you explain this list?” Benjamin shrugged and handed the parchment back to Sloan. “Everyone that’s dead was either involved with alcohol, drugs, or was corrupted by money or power.”
Sloan gave Benjamin a sideways look before she examined the paper. Benjamin made a dash mark by each name and then commented on their occupation before they died. The list was full of comments like “bar owner,” “drug distributor,” and “prostitute.”
“So,” Aareth leaned over the bar and cocked his head to the side to read along with Sloan, “if we buy into the idea that God—I mean, the Divine—has sent some kind of animal to kill certain people, then how do you explain the death of the mayor, sheriff, and every police officer that worked in Burrow Den?”
“Everyone is so hush-hush about this.” Benjamin took a large breath before he took another drink from his mug. “Our mayor wasn’t the man everyone thought he was. He was corrupt from the inside out. He held the police and sheriff in his pocket. The reason it’s so overlooked is because he was a fair and likable man. But when Dr. Oliver Livingston came from New Hope with all that money—”
“Dr. Livingston was here?” Sloan slammed the paper on the bar and locked Benjamin with a crazy look in her eyes.
“Ummm… yes. He came about a year ago to meet with the mayor. Only stayed for a day. When we asked the mayor what the meeting was about, he said the doctor wanted to keep lines of communication between New Hope and Burrow Den open as a sign of friendship and good faith. That’s one of the reasons why we reached out to New Hope when the attacks spiraled out of control.”
Sloan was still trying to process the new information, when Aareth asked, “So what does this have to do with the mayor being corrupt?”
“After the doctor left, the mayor suddenly had more money than King Midas. He built himself that huge home, and when Pastor Elijah started asking questions, he had the sheriff and deputies keep him in check.”
Sloan was trying to think back to last year and if she had known of Dr. Livingston making any prolonged trips outside of New Hope. Was it possible the doctor made the long journey to Burrow Den? But why would he have bothered? What was he planning with the mayor?
“Crazy, right?” Benjamin asked more to his glass of whiskey than his bar companions.
Aareth was staring into his glass, swishing around the mind-numbing liquid, when Sloan spoke again. “So we have what looks like a hit list on the not-so-honorable members of the community, and a meeting between Doctor Livingston and the Mayor of Burrow Den. What do you think, Aareth?”
“I think we have a lot of new information and it’s time to start talking to people who have actually seen whatever it is that’s causing all of these deaths.”
“Benjamin,” Sloan glanced at the short list of people who had seen the animal and lived to talk about it, “there are only three names on the list of people who have seen the animal and lived. Who do you think would be the most helpful to us?”
“Well, I wouldn’t rely on any of these people.” Benjamin took the paper again and sucked at his bottom lip as he thought. “Old Man Shepherd is blind as a bat and these other two are as reliable as a dull knife. They’re probably just saying they’ve seen the beast for the attention. But maybe I can help.”
“You’ve seen this creature?” Warning signals went off in Sloan’s head. “Why isn’t your name on the list?”
“Oh, I’ve seen it all right. By the Divine One, I’ve seen it. I didn’t tell anyone about it because I thought they would laugh. Then as the attacks happened more and more often, well, I got scared. Anyone who claimed to have seen the monster was killed a few days later by the beast itself. Then when the other so called witnesses came forward with conflicting accounts of the animal, I decided to just stay out of it altogether.”
Benjamin raised a shaking mug to his mouth as Sloan and Aareth shared another sideways glance.
“Tell us what happened, Benjamin.” Aareth swirled the whiskey in his own glass. “We’ll believe you.”
Benjamin reluctantly put the mug down and started his story.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Jack
“Are we almost there, Elizabeth?” Jack asked.
“Patience, tiny dancer,” Elizabeth said over her shoulder.
Jack, his father, and their guide had been traveling for wha
t seemed like hours. They were off any kind of path and heading deeper and deeper into the woods. Jack could see the side of the mountain that stood as a border to the known land approaching quickly.
The sun was high in the sky and Jack knew it was just past midday. The pace that Elizabeth kept was steady but slow. The young girl almost danced through the forest and around trees. She was a sight to watch, her wild hair flowing behind her and her head nodding to the voices that only she could hear.
Jack began to wonder how Abigail was able to cope with not only the loss of her mother but the fact that she had inherited the responsibility of caring for a sister like Elizabeth.
“We’re here!”
Jack examined the area. They were in a small clearing with trees on three sides and the looming slope of the mountain in front. There was no sign of a building, much less a laboratory.
“Elizabeth, did you take us all the way out here to show us the mountain?” Marcus asked in a gentle tone. “Do you think that mountain is a laboratory?”
“Ummm… No, Jack’s Dad, that would be crazy.” Elizabeth struck Marcus with a look that said he was an idiot. “The laboratory is obviously inside the mountain. Looky here.”
Elizabeth walked to the side of the mountain that rose up in front of them like the walls of New Hope. She placed a palm on the side of the rough rock surface and pushed. Nothing happened.
Jack glanced at his father with disapproval written across his face. He was about to open his mouth to ask Elizabeth why she had lied, when Elizabeth’s hand pulled some kind of trigger on the mountainside. There was a light puff of steam and the low, methodical sound of gears turning.
A door slowly slid from right to left, revealing a cave entrance.
“Elizabeth, how did you find this?” Jack stood, not believing what his eyes told him was very real.
The Complete Vampire Project Series: (Books 1 - 5) Page 14