Laurell Hamilton - Affliction

‘You helped us find Henry, that’s something,’ Al said.

Horton agreed. He looked past me and said, ‘Your other men are coming this way. Maybe it’s time for you to go check on Mike and his family?’

Nicky was coming this way with Nathaniel gliding at his side, the leash almost dragging the ground between them. Ares said, ‘I motioned Nicky over, Anita.’

‘Why?’ I asked.

‘Because I think I see tracks, but if I’m concentrating on reading the ground I can’t guard you.’

‘There are tracks all over here,’ Horton said.

‘It’s a popular camping and hiking area,’ Al added.

‘Barefoot hiking?’ Ares asked.

The two men looked at each other.

Nicky and Nathaniel had caught up with us. Ares explained what he was doing and Nicky went on alert, watching out into the darkened woods. Ares knelt down, resting on the balls of his feet, staring intently at the ground near us. He pulled a flashlight from one of the pockets on his vest. He shone it on the ground and began to work his way to the edge of the woods on the far left side of the clearing, if you were facing away from the body. He walked slowly, going to the crowd periodically as he moved back toward us.

‘The barefoot print is paired with one that looks like boots. The impression is heavier coming into the clearing and lighter going out.’

‘You think they carried his body in,’ I said.

‘Yes.’

‘Can you track them back?’ Horton asked.

‘The prints are less clear in the trees. There’s more dirt here. I can tell you the direction they came and went, but it’s going to be almost impossible on this surface in the dark. And if the other Crawford is alive now, he may not be by dawn.’

‘If you have a suggestion, now’s the time to say it, Ares,’ I said.

‘Nathaniel might be able to pick up the scent of one of the people who carried the body in. If he can trace them back that way, then I may be able to help track, too.’

‘I don’t want Nathaniel to get up close with the body.’

‘Why, so he won’t get spooked?’

I gave a small shrug.

The leopard gave a low, coughing sound.

I looked at him, and those pale eyes met mine, so serious, and though I knew the mind inside there wasn’t exactly human, the look in the eyes was not a cat’s look. There was too much intelligence, too much … personality.

‘What do you want to do?’ I asked.

His answer was to pad toward the body, delicately, as if he were afraid to smear the evidence. He crouched close to the body and snarled. He rose up and looked … puzzled, as if he didn’t understand what he was scenting.

‘What’s wrong, Nathaniel?’

He looked at me mutely. I could have dropped shields and felt more of what he was feeling, but after last time I wasn’t sure it was a good idea.

‘Are you going to ask him if Timmy is down the well?’ Horton asked.

I frowned at him.

‘It’s just you don’t seem to be able to understand him much better than I can.’

‘I understood him fine earlier, but the psychic contact was too intense; that’s why we ran ahead like we did. I need more control than that.’

‘If you can track this monster back to its lair, then we need you to stay close to us,’ Al said. ‘No racing ahead, okay?’

‘I don’t know what did this, but I do know that I don’t want to take Nathaniel into the middle of it without as much police backup as I can get.’

Al smiled. ‘Fair enough. Just don’t get carried away with all the psychic stuff again.’

‘I’ll do my best,’ I said. I turned to Nathaniel. ‘Do you have the scent?’

His answer was to walk away from Nicky and me to stand in front of Ares. He gazed up at the tall, blond man. I knew they had no psychic connection, but Ares seemed to understand, because he said, ‘He wants me to take his leash so we can track together.’

‘You with your eyes and him with his nose,’ I said.

Ares nodded.

I sighed and went to Nicky. I took the leash from him and then I knelt in front of the big leopard. I held his face between my hands and gave serious eye contact, trying to ‘see’ Nathaniel in there.

‘I love you,’ I whispered.

He purred and rubbed along the side of my face so hard it almost tipped me over. I threw my arms around his furred neck and hugged him, then pulled away and said, ‘Be careful.’

He rubbed into my shoulder and wound himself around my kneeling body in an almost perfect circle, purring the whole time. I think it was leopard for I’ll be careful, you be careful, too, and I love you , or maybe he was just scent-marking me. Calling ‘mine’ so that all the other wereanimals would know, or maybe it was all the above?

I gave the leash to Ares.

‘Thank you for trusting me.’

‘I trust you both,’ I said.

He smiled and then turned around to lead Nathaniel to the edge of the clearing where he had lost the tracks. Nathaniel crouched, sniffing the ground, pulling his lips back so he could ‘taste’ the smell, too. Nicky put his hand on my shoulder. ‘Nathaniel can do this, Anita.’

I nodded, because I didn’t trust my voice.

Nathaniel snarled again and then moved purposefully into the trees. ‘I think he’s got it,’ I said. I moved forward with Nicky at my side. Al and Horton followed us, and most of the other police. They’d leave only enough people behind to secure the crime scene; the rest would go with us hoping to have a Crawford to rescue instead of bury.

I prayed that we’d get there in time and that Nathaniel didn’t get hurt. Ares, Nicky, and I took our chances with our jobs. Nathaniel stripped for a living. The worst danger he routinely faced was overzealous fans trying to rip his G-string on stage or stalk him off stage. Helping us hunt the things that had eaten Henry Crawford’s face off was so not in my sweetie’s job description.

The leopard tracked, and Ares found actual tracks periodically, or branches broken, or moss disturbed. He was all very Indian scout, which was probably the scout part of scout sniper , but it was all impressive and surreal in the dark on the mountain with the big leopard padding at his side. We moved slowly, because Ares was trying to gauge how many zombies, or people, or whatever, lay ahead of us. I just wanted it over. The tension between my shoulder blades was tight and tighter. I’d suggested to Al that we call for SWAT, but we were in the middle of nowhere, and technically the small municipality had no SWAT. Unofficially they could call Boulder for help, or even the FBI hostage rescue team (HRT), but in reality we were it.

Was it Nathaniel being here like this that was making me nervous? Maybe, but I didn’t like not knowing what had killed Crawford senior. If it was just humans gone crazy, then we’d be fine, but what if it was something else? The only flesh-eating zombie that I’d had to track down before had damn near killed me. But it had been like a disorganized killer, slaughtering wildly and eating more of the bodies. The bites on Crawford’s body had been neat compared to that. How had they kidnapped the two men within yards of the rest? We had too many questions and no answers, but if we could save the son … if we could get there in time to save Little Henry …

I stumbled, and Nicky had to catch my arm or I’d have fallen.

‘You okay?’ he whispered.

I shook my head. ‘We don’t have enough information. I don’t know what we’re tracking.’

He kept his hand on my arm and leaned in to whisper. ‘If Nathaniel weren’t involved you’d be fine.’

I looked ahead of us to see Ares’ blond head almost ghostlike above the dark leather of his coat. The leopard was like a thicker piece of the shadows under the trees as it moved at his side. ‘It’s not just Nathaniel.’