The Mourning Woods - 03 (37 page)

“Yep. He might’ve been able to do this.”

“By himself?”

“Maybe,” she replied a little doubtfully. “It’s hard to say. I haven’t seen too many elder vamps go all out. To be honest, I’m not entirely certain what a vampire of his age can and can’t do.”

I nodded in agreement. Up until now, the Khan had been the oldest vamp I had ever met. Since the most action I had seen from him was shoveling food and drink into his fat face, that didn’t exactly give me too many reference points. Still, I had seen James a few times. If he decided he needed to kill a truck, I don’t think I would put my money against him.

By now, the snow was coming down even more heavily. I was still in favor of examining the wreck and the surrounding area, but things were rapidly starting to look like the North Pole, minus Santa’s merry workshop. Soon enough, we’d have a better chance of building an igloo than conducting an investigation, besides which I barely even watch
CSI
. What the fuck do I know about crime scenes?

Sally and I decided that getting back was more important, especially since the victims here were all beyond our help.

“I’m open for suggestions,” I said. “Maybe they have a GPS in the cab.”

“The battery would be dead by now,” she replied, as usual spoiling my plans with a little well thought out logic. “Follow me.” With that, she started walking toward the wreck.

I started after her, having no idea what she meant. For all I knew, she was planning on pulling off some kind of
A-Team
like stunt and fashioning a working snowmobile from the pieces. I mean, I had never seen Sally with a welding torch before...and actually I didn’t really fancy the thought of her with one. Still, that would be cool if...

However, that train of thought was derailed as she came to the Snowcat and kept right on walking.

“OK, so that’s your brilliant plan...just keep wandering aimlessly?”

“If I were as dimwitted as you, then yes. Fortunately, for us, though, I am just a wee bit smarter than that.”

“Well lead on then, Ms. Soooper Genius.”

“It’s pretty simple really,” she continued. “The Cat obviously rolled down this hill.”

“I could’ve told you that.”

“Yes, but what was it doing up there to begin with?”

“Well...err...I don’t know,” I admitted.

“Hence why you’re following my lead. Duh.”

* * *

Hot damn, Sally was right. We crested the hill the vehicle had tumbled down, and found ourselves standing on a dirt road. It wasn’t exactly a super highway, hell it was barely a wide trail through the trees, but it was a sight for sore eyes nevertheless.

“I never cease to amaze me,” Sally proudly proclaimed.

“I’d be a lot more amazed if you could tell me which way we’re supposed to go.”

“That way,” she said evenly and pointed.

“Let me guess, you have a fifty-fifty shot of being right?”

“A bit better than that.” She indicated down toward the wreckage. “The Cat looks like it rolled down the hill sideways. That means it was probably going the same way as it’s facing now. Care to guess what’s waiting in that direction?”

“A whole menagerie of freaky creatures?”

“All of them no doubt wondering where the legendary Freewill has wandered off to. Well, let them wonder no longer.”

I’d like to say we made good time. If the weather had been clear, we probably would have. A vampire running all out could probably beat a car on a road like this. Unfortunately, a blizzard tends to be the great equalizer in these sorts of things.

With each passing mile, the snow got deeper and even with our vampire senses it was sometimes difficult to not wander off the trail (for me anyway).

Fortunately, we had Sally’s nose to help us along. Eventually she began to pick up traces of Sasquatch scent. We were entering their territory again, which meant we were going the right way. Soon she mentioned other scents as well...lots of different creatures up ahead. If that wasn’t the very definition of the peace conference, then I don’t know what was. Good thing too, as the weather kept getting nastier.

Suddenly Sally stopped. Before she could say a word, though, another voice rang out, “What are you doing here?”

* * *

I recognized it. As a shape materialized from the storm, I called out, “Alex? Is that you?”

“The same,” he replied sternly, walking up to Sally and me. Unlike our mishmash of purloined clothes, he was dressed for the environment. Gone was the cloak he had worn earlier, in its place was an outfit straight out of one of the
Call of Duty
Arctic missions. The dude looked like some combination of snow ninja and navy SEAL. “I ask again, what are you doing here? Need I remind you that there is a peace conference going on...” he trailed off again, looked briefly at Sally, and then apparently made up his mind to continue. “A conference which I gave you
specific
instructions to oversee.”

“Yeah about that...”

“Instructions?” Sally started, but then recognition came into her eyes. “I see. That’s what you were trying to tell me the other day.”

“Trying?” Alex asked.

“Sally stopped me. She was afraid Francois would compel her...which oddly enough is exactly what happened.”

Alex turned to Sally and inclined his head respectfully. “An impressive amount of foresight. I dare say, Sally, my people may have to keep a closer eye on you in the future. You have potential.”

“Yeah,” I commented. “Potential to be a...”

“But that still does not answer my question,” Alex stated, cutting me off. “Is there a reason why you are out here rather than doing your duty?”

I shrugged and started telling Alex of our adventures from the past several hours. Since most vampires tended to be backstabbing assholes, I would normally err on the side of caution with one I didn’t know too well. Unfortunately, James’s hands were kind of tied in this situation. Being that my choices of who to trust were limited to Francois, Turd, and Alex, it seemed to be a pretty obvious choice to me.

Several times during the telling, Alex raised an intrigued eyebrow at my story. Sally, of course, had to jump in at points to
correct
some of my details and/or to point out my failings. Alex had to warn us back on track a few times after we broke down into our typical bickering. Finally, I finished. Thank God too, as the snow wasn’t exactly tapering off.

“Well, I guess I should be thankful I ran into you both
after
your little dip in the river,” he quipped once we were done.

“Hilarious, I’m sure,” I replied. “Can you take over now? I think we have enough here to hang the guilty parties by their bootstraps.”

“Do not be so sure. You have circumstantial evidence at best against Francois. Elders are often given the benefit of the doubt in cases such as this.”

“What about the First?” Sally asked. “Couldn't they compel him to confess?”

Alex shook his head. “Doubtful. It is difficult to compel any vampire over half-a-millennium in age. Even the most powerful of the First would be hard pressed to do that. Then there is the matter of the Grendel’s leader.”

“Turd?”

“Yes. What are you going to accuse him of? Vampires have no laws against music, at least last I checked. Besides, Turd isn’t one of us. Any direct accusation against him would go a long way toward causing these talks to fall apart.”

“I hate to break it to you, buddy,” Sally spat. “But these talks are already up shit’s creek without a paddle.”

“Not the way I would put it, but I can see how you might think that,” Alex replied.

“Wait a second!” I exclaimed. “You said direct accusation, right?”

“I did.”

“What about an indirect one?”

“I’m not sure I follow you.”

“That’s OK, I doubt Bill is even following himself,” Sally quipped.

I ignored her (despite knowing that she wouldn’t go away) and explained. “I’m led to believe that the rest of Turd’s tribe wouldn’t be too happy to know about his little technology fix.”

Understanding appeared in Alex’s eyes. “Quite true. The Grendel have always shunned it.”

“So I imagine their leader would be knocked down quite a few pegs if they discovered he was a gizmo junkie.”

“Blackmail?” Sally asked. “I’m proud of you, Bill. You're playing with the big boys now.”

“That almost sounded like a compliment, Sally.”

“Don’t worry. Won’t happen again,” she replied. “The only question, though, is who’s hooking up Turd?”

“Francois, obviously,” Alex said. “I just do not know why.”

“Careful, that sounds a lot like an accusation.”

Alex smirked at that. “I directly serve the First, Freewill. My accusations carry a bit more weight than most. Still, you are correct. Knowing
what
is not the same as
why
. That is why you must get back to the talks. Perhaps then, we might gain insight into this.”

“What about you?” I asked, exasperated that I was still somehow neck deep in this crap.

“I will go check on the remains you found. Perhaps there is some bit of evidence that you have missed, something that will help tie this all together.”

Sally and I gave Alex directions as best we could. Hopefully, he’d be able to find it, and maybe even more. Being pretty much a newborn in the vampire world, my senses aren’t that great. Sally’s are better, but she’s not exactly ancient either. Perhaps Alex would be able to sniff out some clues that we could use to stick it to Francois once and for all.

We just had to be careful. If Francois caught wind of this, he’d no doubt try to stick me first...no doubt with something sharp and pointy.

* * *

“You certainly picked an interesting time to disappear.”

“Sorry, James. Sally and I took a walk in the woods...and got lost.” I shot him a quick wink. Hopefully, he got the point that I was being coy (as opposed to hitting on him) since there were others potentially within earshot.

“I see. And your somewhat interesting choice in attire?” he asked with a smirk.