Kindling The Darkness. Jane Kindred
like he was leading her out into an isolated area for nefarious purposes. He’d forgotten to put himself in her shoes—not that he’d fit them—which was a large part of his meditative practice.
“Sorry about that,” he said when she reached him. “I should have told you what we were doing. This is where we tracked the creature after it was spotted lurking around the Ghost Town. The lupine tracks disappear here, to be replaced with human footprints.”
She looked where he was pointing, and Oliver stepped aside and moved off a few paces to let her examine the area without him hovering behind her. Lucy sank into a crouch, perfectly balanced on those thick-heeled boots, and took out her phone to snap some pictures before straightening and walking around the prints to get some shots from another angle. After walking farther down the hill to follow the now-human prints for a ways, she turned and headed back up.
“I see what you mean. The animal tracks aren’t standard wolves. I’ve never seen any quite like that. Certainly not that size. But those are definitely human prints leading away from them, with no sign that anyone else was out here until they appeared.” She glanced at Oliver’s footwear—a much more utilitarian pair of old brown work boots. “Except you, evidently. And now me, of course.”
Oliver tilted his head and studied her, amused. “You think I’m the werewolf?”
“Are you?”
“Would I tell you if I were?”
Lucy shrugged and headed back up the hill. Oliver followed, and they walked in silence until they reached her car and got in.
“I’m not,” he said as she started the engine.
“Not...?”
“The werewolf. For whatever my word is worth to you.”
“Exactly as much as any man’s is worth.”
He had the distinct impression that meant “zilch.”
She turned the car around and pulled back out onto the paved road. “Besides, I don’t think we’re dealing with a werewolf.”
“Oh?”
“Lycanthropic transformation isn’t instantaneous and smooth. The creature would have struggled and fallen, and the human shape would have been on all fours before the footprints began. There’s no sign of any transition at all with these tracks. It’s as if the creature simply chose to be human at that moment.”
“What kind of shifter could do that?”
Lucy was quiet for a moment before she answered. “None that I know of. So where to now?”
“Haunted Hamburger.”
She looked over at him. “Haunted...what?”
“Best burgers in town.” He smiled. “I think I owe you a meal.”
* * *
The outdoor seating overlooked the entire Verde Valley—the hundred-mile views the restaurant boasted of along with burgers, brews and “boos.” The distinctive red-rock formations that defined the Sedona landscape, made blue and soft by distance, marked the horizon like the rim of another world. Lucy gazed out across the panorama while they waited for their food, wondering how much of this territory might “belong” to the creatures she was hunting.
“It’s a pretty great view, huh? The ghosts seem to like it here, anyway.”
She turned toward Oliver, who was sipping his porter. “Hmm?” Lucy glanced at the valley once more. “Oh. Yeah, it’s nice. I was just thinking about the direction this thing might have gone. The tracks we looked at must have been made within the last few hours since the rain stopped.”
“That’s right. We got the report of the sighting about an hour after I caught you harassing one of our citizens.”
Lucy ignored the bait. “And what makes you think the tracks were made by the same creature responsible for the ‘mountain lion’ attacks?”
“Because similar tracks were seen at the sites of those attacks. And a kid was found close to that spot yesterday with his throat torn open and his intestines missing.”
The same MO as the beast she’d been tracking from Flagstaff.
Oliver grimaced as the burgers arrived. “Sorry. I wasn’t planning to talk about that while we ate.”
“Why not? Isn’t that why you brought me to Jerome? I didn’t come for a social visit.”
“No, of course. And to be clear, I did not bring you here. I was outvoted, if you recall. But don’t you ever take a break?”
Lucy shrugged. “I’ll take a break when they do.” Which seemed like it was going to be never. She dug in to her burger, having forgotten how hungry she was until now. “So, where were the other attacks?”
“A hiker was killed in Deception Gulch near the old mine at Hull Canyon, and a couple of campers were torn to shreds near Woodchute Trail. And there was one more sighting recently at Hogback—the Old Miners Cemetery just south of town. But no contact there.”
“So it’s staying close to Jerome.” Lucy washed down her burger with a sip of root beer. “I wonder why.”
Oliver gave her a wry smile. “Some people like it here.”
“No, I’m sure they do. I mean, why, specifically, would it gravitate toward a small town with limited hunting and few places to hide in an area that’s neither urban nor wooded. Werewolves tend to prefer hunting grounds near large groups of people where they can blend in and stalk at night, or they isolate themselves and hide in undeveloped forestland and hunt small game. But this one—if it is indeed just one—has gone a few miles out, perhaps to hide, but then returned to the center of Jerome, where it made a brazen kill that it could have been caught at.”
“Maybe it isn’t afraid of being caught.” It was an unsettling idea.
While they both concentrated on their food, Lucy pondered where to start her hunt.
After a moment, Oliver set down his burger and took a drink of his porter. “So, how do you intend to catch it?”
“I don’t intend to catch it. I intend to kill it.”
His hard jaw was set even harder. “So you’re judge, jury and executioner.”
“That’s right. That’s what people like you pay me to be. What did you expect me to do, put it in a zoo?”
“Doesn’t your biotech company develop drugs to help shifters lead ‘normal’ lives?”
“We have certain promising pharmaceuticals in development but none on the market yet.”
“Isn’t that your brother’s bailiwick? You both inherited the company, didn’t you?”
Lucy breathed evenly. “Lucien has a lot of responsibilities that keep him from the day-to-day operations. But yes, Smok Biotech is Lucien’s particular area of interest, and the anti-lycanthropy project is one that he’s spearheaded.”
“There are rumors about him.”
Her hand remained perfectly still around her glass, and she kept her expression neutral. “Rumors?”
“That he’s actually at some swanky rehab center in California, and his addiction is being quietly covered up.”
She made a dismissive sound and emptied her glass. “Lucien isn’t an addict. Rest assured, the company is in very capable hands. My brother just happens to be a rather private—and busy—person. You can spread that around your rumor mill.” Lucy set her napkin on the table and pushed her plate away. “I’ll take a drive out to Hogback and see if I can spot anything unusual. In the meantime, a sketch of the creature would be useful in determining what we’re dealing with. Did you get a detailed description from any of the eyewitnesses?”