Dirty Blood (14 page)

“Tara, they’re all friends,” Fee said, gently.

I glanced down and found Fee waiting patiently at the
bottom of the steps.

“Right,” I said, with way more confidence than I
felt. Mechanically, I descended the small porch, and fell into step
beside Fee. As we grew closer to the trees my anxiety doubled. My
heart thudded loudly, ringing in my ears, and in response to some
instinctive protective part of my brain, I realized my fingers
itched to draw my weapons. I ignored it at first, but then we
passed through, into the small clearing, and the group noticed us
approaching. Every single pair of eyes – human or otherwise –
turned to stare at me. I felt my shallow breaths edging towards
hyperventilation. My skin crawled and the hairs on the back of my
neck stood up.

Then a familiar figure broke away from the group and
strode towards me.

Wes lowered his head and spoke low into my ear.
“You’re doing great.” He took my arm and fell into step beside me,
leading me around the group, to the far side of the fire, with
plenty of breathing room between me and them.

When we stopped, I stood in between Fee and Wes. I
didn’t look up to see if everyone was still watching me, I just
stared at the fire and tried to keep my expression blank, or at
least clear of any expression that said, ‘a big part of me wants to
kill you right now’.

“Looks like most everyone’s here so let’s get
started.”

I followed the sound of Jack’s voice and did a double
take. His voice sounded exactly the same as it always did: burly
and booming. But it was coming out of the body of a great brown
wolf. The biggest wolf I’d ever seen; easily the biggest one here.
His fur ruffled in the slight breeze and I wondered if half his
size didn’t come from that alone, as thick as it was. I knew I was
openly staring, but I didn’t care. He was magnificent and beautiful
to watch. Even standing still, there was a gracefulness in him that
would have been impossible to achieve in human form. Especially
Jack’s human form. And in a way, this was the first time I’d really
seen a wolf up close, like this. With Liliana, there hadn’t exactly
been time to stand back and admire. So, I watched in fascination as
Jack-the-wolf shifted on his paws – which were probably twice the
size of my feet - and shot sharp glances at some who still hadn’t
ended their hushed conversations.

“First, I’ll go ahead and properly introduce our
guest,” he said, when the group had quieted. “Everyone, this is
Tara Godfrey, a Hunter. Tara, this is our group. They’ve all given
permission for you to be present today, so just watch and listen.
If you have any questions about what you hear, I’m sure any one of
them would be happy to answer them for you. We’re all glad you’re
here.”

I could feel everyone watching me again so I just
nodded and kept my eyes on Jack. I managed to stay relatively calm
this time, though, with Wes beside me.

“Alright. Updates,” Jack said, shifting on his paws
to look at someone across the fire. “Derek, how’d it go with the
clan in the Outer Banks?”

A lanky wolf, with fur the color of mud and eyes to
match, spoke up. His voice was gravelly and sounded young, close to
my age, but it was impossible to tell from his wolf form. “Not
great, Jack. They’ve had a problem with newbie Hunters lately.” His
eyes flicked to me and then back to Jack. “The Hunters attacked
without provocation and managed to take down a couple of the pack,
including the alpha’s teenaged son. Emotions are running high and I
wouldn’t be surprised if they retaliate. Not much hope of diplomacy
there, at least not now.”

“Damn. Did you identify the Hunters?” asked Jack.

“No. New graduates from what they can gather. Glory
seekers. Vigilantes. You know how it goes.” Derek’s eyes flicked
back to me again.

“Alright,” said Jack. “I’m going to draw up a letter
for you to deliver to Gabe, their alpha. You up for a second
trip?”

“Sure.” Derek dipped his head and hunched his fur,
giving an odd impression of shrugging shoulders.

Jack made a noise deep in his throat, something
between a sigh and a growl, and then his eyes flicked down the
line. “Cord? What have you got?”

Next to Derek, a blond haired girl stepped forward.
Her hair was perfectly combed, with her long bangs swept to the
side, covering part of her face, and she wore black leggings with
black boots. I thought she looked mysterious and gorgeous – until
she spoke. “Jonah’s still sending out new initiates with nothing
more than a stake and delusions of grandeur.” Her voice was nothing
like her appearance. It was hard and biting, and all business.

While she spoke, her eyes flicked to me, like Derek’s
had, but the message in them was much more brittle. I shifted and
looked away, with the unmistakable feeling of being sized up.

“How many of them?” asked Jack.

Cord turned her attention back to him. “Three for
now. The next group doesn’t graduate until June and then we’ll have
probably ten or twelve on our hands.”

“Where were they headed?”

“The mountains. Near Shenandoah. They’re camping to
stay under the radar. All cocky confidence, too. They’d be easy to
find again, though, trust me.” She rolled her eyes.

“We’d better follow them and make sure they don’t do
any damage. Kelsey’s pack is just on the other side of those
mountains and they’ve recently decided to ally with us. I don’t
want anything messing that up,” said Jack.

“No problem,” she said. And I knew just from looking
at her, that it wouldn’t be.

“Take Miles with you,” Jack added.

Cord’s expression hardened at that but she nodded.
“Fine.”

Jack continued down the line, calling on Bailey, a
smaller Werewolf, the color of vanilla ice cream. Jack asked him
for an update on someone named Xavier, but Bailey said he hadn’t
made any more progress, whatever that meant. He sounded really
young, younger than me, when he spoke.

Jack moved on again; this time, to a Hunter named
Jill who reported about some piece of land she had been sent to
check on. Most of it was passing right over my head, but from what
I could gather, these assignments were all pieces of a puzzle that
Jack oversaw, a part of a bigger picture – and the thing that got
me was that it was, above all, a peaceful picture. That appealed to
me. These people didn’t go around killing each other. They found a
way to defend themselves and others without violence. It was
something to consider.

“That wraps up all the works in progress we have at
the moment,” said Jack when Jill was done. “I know it’s not as many
irons in the fire as we would like, but we have to be patient.
We’re trying to reverse hundreds of years of a certain way of
thinking.” He paused and then in a brisk voice added, “New
business. Miles, what have you got?”

Miles, the man I’d met in the kitchen, cleared his
throat. “We tracked Liliana’s last forty-eight hours to a motel
outside of Warrenton. The clerk remembered her and said she came in
with a guy but couldn’t describe him. Probably, he was too busy
watching her to notice. They stayed the night, and he says she left
alone the next morning. That would’ve been the same day she called
you.” He nodded to Wes and I got a sinking feeling in my gut.

“Any leads on where she went that day? Or the guy at
the motel?” Jack asked.

“Not yet. Still working on it,” said Miles.

Jack shook his head. “No, I need you to go with Cord
in case any of those frat boys get carried away.” He shot a look at
Cord. “No killing.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Fee can look into the Liliana situation while you’re
gone. Vera can help, which may be easier than the usual channels,”
said Jack, turning to a woman directly on his left.

She was tall and willow thin and even though she wore
a pants suit and low heels, there was a regal authority about her
that made you stop and take notice. I’d been glancing her way since
the beginning of the meeting, unsure what someone like that was
doing here, in front of a bonfire with a bunch of wolves.

“Of course,” she answered. Her voice was just as
polished and regal as the rest of her.

Jack nodded and then addressed the rest of the group.
“Okay, last order of business today is the situation with
Tara.”

At the sound of my name, everyone looked over at me.
The woman, Vera, met my eyes. (I must’ve still been staring at her
without realizing it.) Her gaze was sharp and penetrating and made
me feel like she was waiting for something. I looked away and
stared back into the fire.

Why were they talking about me? Oh God, this was it.
I was going to be called out for killing Liliana. Maybe even
punished. So much for a jury of my peers. I squared my shoulders
and braced myself. At my sides, my fingers twitched, ready to grab
for my weapons. I wasn’t going to go easily.

“All of you know about the campers that were killed.
It was in the paper. What you don’t know is the message that was
left at the scene. Wes, pass that picture around, will you?”

Wes reached inside his jacket and pulled out the
photograph he’d shown me earlier, with the bloody lettering. He
passed it around me, to Fee. She barely glanced at it and passed it
on. As much as that picture disgusted me, at this moment, I was
beyond relieved to see it. This was why Jack had brought me up. Not
because I killed one of theirs. I breathed out slowly and forced my
hands to relax at my sides.

“The words are written in the victim’s blood on the
side of their tent,” Jack explained, as the picture was passed
around the circle. The humans all made sure whatever wolf was
beside them got a look before passing it to the next outstretched
hand. “Wes got there first, as he was on call that night. He
snapped this before he disposed of the evidence. We need to find
out what it means and who it was. Tara may not be an official
member of our group, but she’s still one of us and she’s been
thrown into this without any warning. She needs our help so we need
to figure out what’s next.”

“This would’ve taken some time,” said Miles, when it
was his turn to study the photo. “They would’ve had to change back
to do the writing. They’re patient.” He studied it like a slide
under a microscope and I wondered how he could be so detached about
the gore.

“They’re sick, is what they are,” said Cord, with
obvious disgust.

“How do they know Tara? Why do they want to scare
her?” asked Bailey.

“We don’t know. Tara doesn’t have any enemies,”
answered Jack.

“Everyone has enemies,” muttered Cord.

“She knew them,” Wes said. “The girl was an employee
in her mother’s store. We should assume that he picked his victim
because of her connection to Tara.”

Murmurs went around the group and Jack silenced them
with his booming voice. “Tara knows nothing of what she is or of
our world and how it works, which means our group has a better
chance of finding who’s responsible, knowing what we know. So
here’s what we need to do. Surveillance. Use your contacts. Find
out if anyone new has come into the area recently. Especially Weres
but not exclusively. It could be a frame. Anything is possible
until we know more.” A few more whispers went around and then Jack
wrapped up. “Alright, I think that’s about it for today. We’ll
reconvene in one week, same time, to share what we’ve learned.”

“Jack,” Wes interrupted. Everyone stopped and waited.
So did I. It was the first time he’d spoken during the entire
meeting. He paused, seeming to second guess his words. I caught
Vera looking at him. Their eyes met and she nodded. “I think it
might be wise to widen the scope of our watches to include a
regular patrol around Tara’s until this thing is figured out.”

Jack nodded. “I agree. Good idea, Wes.”

“I also think it might be wise to keep a close watch
on her, personally, at all times. Whoever did this, if they come
after her again, won’t be expecting one of us. We’ll have the
advantage, and be able to ID him better if it’s one of us who sees
his face.”

“I agree with that, too. But it’s a pretty time
consuming job. We don’t really have the manpower for that-”

“I’ll do it,” said Wes.

Excitement speared through me. I really wanted to
look up at him, to see the expression on his face but I couldn’t.
If I did, my own emotion would show through and I could still feel
everyone looking at me. Instead, I kept my expression as blank as I
could and just kept looking at the fire. So, Wes would be with me
all day, every day? The logical side of me knew that it was
strictly for my safety, but I couldn’t help the wild fluttering
that had taken over in my stomach.

For some reason, Jack didn’t seem surprised, at all,
by Wes volunteering. “Okay, then. We’ll take you off the patrol
schedule as much as we can spare you. I’ll get you the list so
you’ll know who to call for backup.”

Wes nodded, and Jack ended the meeting. Wes and Fee
stayed close to my side as everyone wandered off in different
directions. Most of the wolves left the circle, cutting deeper into
the woods in groups of twos and threes. The Hunters all turned
toward the house.

“Where are they going?” I asked, gesturing to the
wolves.

“Home,” said Wes.

“Through the woods?”

“It’s less conspicuous than parking fifty cars in
Jack’s yard. So they run,” he explained.

“What did you think?” Fee asked, with a smile.

“It was um… interesting,” I finally said.

Fee smiled wider. “Yes, that’s a good word for our
group. Do you have any questions about any of it?”

“I have questions about all of it,” I admitted. “I
didn’t really understand much of what was going on, but from the
little bit I did understand, I think what you guys are doing here
is great.”

Fee’s eyes lit up, and Wes’ hand pressed down on my
back, suddenly guiding me away.