Into the Light (The Admiral's Elite Book 2) (15 page)

“We’ve put in a lot of miles since we got here.” Gabrielle sighed. “It’s tiring running all over the countryside following a smell that’s everywhere.” She nodded her head back toward where Ryan was standing and sniffing at the branches. “He’s distracted, because of me.”

Becca was seriously trying hard not to laugh at the one sheriff who was supposed to be lamenting the new guys with Salvo and company while he was completely distracted by Ryan’s unconventional scene exploration. She couldn’t help sniggering imagining what the young man would do if he saw Ryan do the half-wolf thing where only his head changed. He’d probably shit.

Hearing Gabrielle’s measured air intake beside her, Becca worried she’d mistaken the laughter as being directed at her. “Oh Gabrielle, I’m sorry. I was just…”

“Forget it,” she said absently.

Catching the odd tone in her voice, Becca’s head whipped around to check on the woman beside her. Only Becca could see that she’d already lost her, her eyes were focused on something in the distance, something out past where the trees started. Quick, so she didn’t miss it, Becca turned and followed her gaze. There was nothing.

“I’ll catch you later.” Gabrielle started walking, her eyes never wavering from some fixed point only she could see.

Becca was used to the woman being distant. This was checked out. “Um, okay.” She watched her go, making note of the direction before taking off to find Michael.

He was crouched beside the chest cavity of the human’s body. The forensics team was packing up and the other cops were comparing notes off to the side so he was alone. Becca hurried over and leaned in, speaking quietly in his ear.

Startled, his eyes shot up, searching a moment before landing on the woman in question currently maneuvering her way past the cars and heading into the trees.

“I’m worried about her and I think Ryan could use a break from the stress.” She glanced down and pointedly ignored the worried look he gave her, nodding instead toward the group of uniforms hovering uncomfortably a short distance away. “I’m going to follow, but I don’t want them out there just in case I run across anything. Distract them for a minute?”

Watching her, knowing he couldn’t make a scene without drawing unwanted attention, Michael gave her a deliberate nod. “Careful. This thing is close, can you smell it?”

Lowering her sleeve, she took a deep sniff of the human. Too deep. The iron and bile scents of blood and guts filled her nose. There was a hint of something else she caught on the back of her tongue and, cautiously, she took several smaller sniffs. Underneath the overpowering immediate whiffs lay the faint sweet smell of decay. “I smell it. Is that the thing?” She didn’t use its name even though no one was near enough to have heard.

He gave a tiny head tip in Gabrielle’s direction. “You smell that out there, get the hell out. No questions. Don’t try to handle this thing on your own.” The severity of his expression allowed for no arguments. “Do you have your gun?”

“Loaded with the good stuff.” She patted the holster under her arm where she carried her 9mm loaded with pure silver, guaranteed to kill any supernatural creature they might encounter. “Buy me some time?”

“Alright. I’ll follow as soon as I can run these guys out.” He straightened up and marched over to Salvo’s group, putting on his darkest glare.

Becca was glad it wasn’t aimed at her and felt a twinge of guilt for sending him over, tempering it with the knowledge of what might happen if one followed her into a windigo’s den or worse.

“Who the
hell’s
in charge of this scene?” he shouted. “This damned place is a zoo. There are footprints and puke everywhere. Is there any evidence that
hasn’t
been contaminated?”

Smiling at his ability to play the role of massive jackass all too well, Becca walked past staring straight ahead. When she’d met Michael she thought he was hot, but an ass. She was more than happy to have discovered how wrong she was. Handy the local officers didn’t know that. She moved like she was going to the car and, after checking that no one was watching her, zipped back up to the trees and cut in where she’d lost sight of Gabrielle.

At first she followed the footprints, then when they looped back, she feared she’d been ditched. It didn’t make sense that Gabrielle would want to lead her in circles, or even that she’d seen her. Why would she want to hide her tracks? Was she hiding something else? Kneeling down in the snow, she saw that some of the tracks had a fresh dusting of snow in them.

“She’s been here before,” she breathed aloud, tracing the outline of a heel with her fingers. “But why?”

Becca, after some quick discerning, sorted the old from the new and backtracked to find where she’d gotten confused. The tracks crossed themselves repeatedly. Gabrielle wasn’t leading her anywhere, she was searching for something. Deliberately and tediously, she followed each boot-shaped indent. It wasn’t easy. Even with the lack of leaves, the density of the trees and fallen debris hidden by snow and snarled where patches were packed down with the weight of fallen matter and the white stuff made for slower and more difficult going as she progressed. Then, mercifully, it opened up in a few spots. Several times she lost Gabrielle’s tracks in the leaf litter and had to resort to following the direction and, staying true, recovered them. “What are you looking for?” she muttered, taking a moment to catch her breath. What might not have been a brisk pace for the wolf was punishing for the already taxed human. The freshness she’d woken with that had sent her out for a run this morning was gone now, replaced by a weariness she felt in her bones.

After over an hour of spine straining crouching and ducking limbs, her back smarting from a few new scrapes and her lungs threatening to explode, Becca saw movement up ahead. Instinctively she dropped into a crouch behind a log and branch combo that provided some amount of cover if she stayed low.

Gabrielle was alternating between slow steps and halts. Her eyes were aimed at something up ahead, her focus disturbingly fixed.

Her quads were burning and her panting was like a freight train ringing off the frozen surfaces. The detective was right, sound did carry in the winter. Becca tried adjusting to give her upper thighs a break and Gabrielle’s head whipped around, her nostrils quivering. Becca stopped breathing and her lungs burned, her entire being froze. For several painful moments, she stared at the exact spot where Becca crouched. Neither moved. At last, Gabrielle seemed satisfied that what she smelled was of no consequence and snapped instantly back into her entranced state. About ready to believe her teammate was hallucinating, following some unknown ghost, Becca had to cover her mouth to stop the sound that wanted to come out when a pale glow in front of Gabrielle illuminated the outline of a tree trunk up ahead.

“Wait!” She reached out a hand and darted forward. “Don’t go.”

The glow moved ahead, matching the blonde’s speed, keeping the distance between them even. She caught her foot in a tangle of underbrush covered by snow and went down on her knees. Becca used the noise of Gabrielle’s fall and subsequent recovery to cover her rapid surge forward. The burst drained her yet she pushed on. She wanted to see what it was Gabrielle was following. Was it the windigo? But if it was, why was Gabrielle pleading with it instead of fighting it?

Chapter 16

“Well, that’s the last of them,” Ryan chuckled. “I gotta hand it to you Mike, you sure know how to clear a room, or scene. Whatever.”

“Yeah, I have special skills.” Michael watched the dark sedan pull away, a few loose stones thrown by its tires coming dangerously close to him. He refused to budge, seeing Salvo watching in his rearview mirror. Tempting fate, he raised a hand and heard the engine roar in response.

Ryan laughed beside him. “I think you made an enemy.” He ruffed his hair then smoothed it. “You want to tell me why you sent Becca after Gabs instead of me? She’s not as fast and if they find this thing, I’d be better suited. No offense.”

“None taken.” Michael frowned and kicked one of the stones that had nearly hit him. “You’ve been out with her the last two nights. We thought you could use a change. Plus, you were the one who was being so obvious. It’s not like you could have snuck away with that kid locked in on you.” Michael snorted. “I thought he was going to puke when you licked that blood off your finger.”

“That dog must have really gotten a hold of it. The spatter in the snow looked like it was femoral.” His tongue traced the inside of his lower teeth, his jaw hanging partway open to pull air over the scent receptors. He was recalling the elements he’d tasted in the windigo’s blood.

“So,” Michael crossed his arms over his chest, “what did you get? Thoughts on where it’s been hanging out?”

“Yeah.” He slapped his hands together. “It’s a combo of minerals I smelled the first night here.” Ryan rubbed a palm on his thigh. “I’ve smelled it on Gabs both mornings she’s come in.” Pained, he made fists and turned to face Michael straight on. “She had to see it. I mean it’s only in a few places out here. If she’s been hitting those spots, she had to cross paths with it. Why didn’t she tell us?”

“No clue Ryan. Let’s see if we can find out though.” He aimed for the hole in the trees where Becca disappeared. The need to follow and make sure she was okay was making him twitchy. It would feel good to let loose and run. Glancing up, he watched the clouds rolling in and smelled snow.

The advantage they had over Becca was that their senses were stronger even than hers, and the sources were doubled. Being mindful of where their feet fell, careful not to make too much noise, they followed. Both men were focused on catching up to their team, each for a different female reason.

Gabrielle’s progress had brought her to a place on the far side of a tall, triangle-shaped pile of pale brown limestone. Becca continued to duck and dodge, weaving her way between trees and stones as the terrain grew more rocky. She stumbled repeatedly. Scrapes burned on her knees and the bruising beginning on her shins was going to hurt before it cleared up by tomorrow. A tic on the positive side for having Michael’s blood in her: quick heal time. The glow continued to pull them along, further into the wood, which had changed from birch to oak. That meant they were moving to higher ground, away from the reedy wetland that had been hanging them up. They walked until the upper canopy of dead leaves, those not due to fall until the spring growth pushed them out, worked with the coming snow storm to block out the light. Soon it was dim as dusk in spite of it being just past the noon hour.

There was something Becca wanted to try but she needed to be still in order to do so. It wouldn’t be a good idea to jump and be distracted in one head, while the other body was weaving between trees and marching over dense knots of brush. As if to prove her point, her toe caught a large stick and she had to jerk her foot twice to loose her lace from a chunk of bark.

The glow stopped moving and Gabrielle, completely engrossed in her dance with it, halted as well. Sensitive to every crunch, Becca wished she could be walking on the rocks like Gabrielle instead of shadowing her from the trees. At least her head wouldn’t feel like it had been plucked bare by the countless tree fingers hanging down.

“Finally,” she breathed raggedly. Ignoring the nervous energy racing up and down her exhausted body, Becca concentrated on the tall blonde balanced precariously atop a large boulder. If she could only see what Gabrielle did, she could help or at least understand what had cast such an enchantment on the seemingly untouchable woman.

The blonde hovered in a half crouch, her hands out to her sides, balancing. Her lips moved only Becca was too far to hear. Choosing to stay and focus on jumping, she gave up on hearing what was being said. She’d get both if her attempt was successful. Briefly, she considered that she might be too tired to be successful, then shooed the thought away. Black wanted her to do this, she
needed
to do this, so here she was and she was going to jump. Eyes narrowing to keep from blinking, Becca slowed her breathing and brought calm to her being. When she was ready, really only a minute or so later, she reached.

When she did, several things happened right on top of each other. The twitching she’d willed away returned with a vengeance and her skin was alive with thousands of needles pricking her flesh. Her teeth ground together and she doubled her efforts, forcing her mind to neglect the body she needed to leave in favor of the one she was hoping to get into.