Lori Handeland - Blue Moon

All I could do was blink, shocked. Zee stared down at the hilt of the knife; then she lifted her gaze to Will. "You have got to be kidding me with this."

She grasped the machete and yanked it out, then tossed the thing into the bushes. A sickening slurping, sucking sound came from her chest. As I watched, the wound closed before it even had time to bleed.

"Told you they’d come in handy." She wiggled her thumbs. Then she backhanded Will so hard he flew into the forest in the wake of the knife.

I didn’t realize I’d jumped to my feet and taken several steps after him until Zee grabbed me.

"Not so fast." She leaned closer. "How about a little nibble?"

I backed up; she let me go. The guns were still behind her. I wasn’t going to get to them anytime soon. Will was unconscious, maybe dead. Mandenauer was still surrounded by wolves, if they hadn’t eaten him already.

We were, to put it in the usual vernacular, screwed.

"Join me, Jessie. I’ll rule; you can be my right-hand woman. We’ll have so much fun."

"All I have to do is get furry."

"It’s not so bad. You might even grow to like it." She waved her hand at the werewolf army. "Most of them do. Embrace your inner wolf, girl. Or die."

A movement from the forest caught my attention. I cast my eyes toward the ground. "Let me think a minute."

"A minute, starting now."

I made a great show of rubbing my head. It still hurt, but what I really wanted to do was see behind Zee without her following my gaze.

Will hovered in the sparse tree line at the edge of the forest. Though his lip was bloody, his cheek already swollen, he didn’t hesitate. He grabbed my pistol from the pile. Unfortunately, his hands were still bound and he fumbled, unable to lift the thing or fire it.

His dismayed gaze met mine and I held out my hand. He tossed me the pistol just as I kicked Zee in the chest. Her wound might have healed, but from the way she howled it still hurt like a bitch.

The gun connected with my palm as she gained her feet. Would silver bullets work on the wolf god? Only one way to find out. I shot her as she whispered my name.

After the incident with the machete, I half-expected Zee to laugh and kick my ass. Instead, flames shot from the wound, so bright I had to shield my eyes. The wolves howled mournfully.

When I lowered my hands, a great white wolf lay at my feet. She was beautiful and she was dead.

I sat next to Zee for quite awhile. No one bothered me. She’d been my best friend. My only friend. And I had loved her.

I didn’t trust many people, but she had been one of them. Look where that had gotten me.

"Jessie?"

I glanced up. Mandenauer and Will hovered over me. There wasn’t a wolf in sight.

"I’ve called my team," Mandenauer said. "They’ll be here within the hour."

"Your team?"

"We have to do something about this, yes?" He indicated the empty clearing.

"What’s this ?"

He sighed. "Jessie, the wolves ran off when Zelda died."

"Won’t they be cured now that she’s dead?"

"There is no cure but the silver."

"Oh." I saw what he was getting at. "How are you going to figure out who’s a werewolf?"

"A few of them I know. Miss Cherry, for instance. Karen Larson."

I shook my head. "I saw Karen get her brains blown out."

"With lead. She walked out of that morgue, and her principal, too."

"Clyde shot her," I insisted.

"Exactly. He knew better than to shoot one of his own with silver."

The conspiracies just kept on coming.

Mandenauer leaned over and removed the totem from Zee’s neck. He held the thing aloft. The icon no longer glowed with evil, otherworldly light. It was a black stone, nothing more.

"Elise will want to study this." He pocketed the totem. Picking up Zee’s torn trousers, he glanced at Will. "Take Jessie home."

"No, wait. I’m okay." I shoved away Will’s helping hand. "I don’t understand. Why did she die? She said she was invincible."

"That is what they all say, but I have never found it to be true."

Mandenauer withdrew a creased sheet of paper from Zee’s pocket. His eyes moved back and forth rapidly as he read it. Then he lifted his head and held the paper out to me.

I crossed the short distance and took the missing page from Will’s book of ceremonies. Quickly I scanned the contents. There was nothing there I didn’t already know, except for one last thing.

"As the blood of the one who loves gives life to the wolf god, only by that person’s hand can the god be destroyed."

I let the paper flutter to the ground. "She died because I shot her."

"Yes."

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

"Go home, Jessie. Sleep. We will talk tomorrow."

"Won’t you be halfway across Canada chasing wolves by then?"

"Not yet." He nodded to Will. This time when Ca-dotte put his arm around me I let him.

I awoke to the sunshine and my own bed. I didn’t remember how I’d gotten there. Will’s car had been nearby; Zee had made him drive. I’d climbed into the passenger seat, and I must have fallen asleep or passed out, because the last thing I did remember was driving through the darkened forest in the direction of the highway.

I was alone and wearing nothing but my underwear. Not only had Cadotte carried me upstairs; he’d undressed me. Again.

I took a shower, made some coffee. He’d left the note in the kitchen.

If you ever need me, you know where to find me.

Will.

What was that supposed to mean?

My mind tumbled back to last night. He’d been angry and hurt. I’d been a little preoccupied since. No time to discuss that anger.

What did he want from me? Could I give him what he needed?

I’d managed to use the L-word, but I didn’t know if I was capable of actually loving someone.

Will still scared me more than the werewolves had. With him I had no control over myself. I gave him everything; I held nothing back. I wasn’t sure if I liked that in me.

The doorbell rang. I didn’t realize how hopeful I’d been until the sight of Mandenauer in the hallway made me sigh with disappointment.

"Come on in." I got him coffee. We sat at the kitchen table. "Any news?"

"We found a few."

I opened my mouth, then shut it again. I didn’t want to know the details. At least not right now.

"The rest have scattered. My Jager-Suchers will disperse. We will hunt them down."

"I’m sorry." I rubbed at the ache in my chest, the one that bore Zee’s name and probably always would. "I froze last night. You could have gotten them all and none of this would be necessary."

"You think this is your fault?" He appeared genuinely surprised as he shook his head. "No. The fault is mine. I was more careless than usual. My age, perhaps. A certain arrogance." He sighed. "Which is why I am here this morning. I wish for you to become one of us."

"A Jaeger-Sucher ?"

"Yes. I must cut back on my field time. Not only because I appear to have lost my edge." His shoulders slumped. "But there is so much more administrative work to do now."

"Now?"

"The werewolf army Zelda created has increased the wolves a hundredfold. They will spread, as will the virus within them."

Hell. I hadn’t thought of that. Mandenauer had been hunting and searching since WWII, and now there were more wolves instead of less. No wonder he was depressed.

"I have begun your training. With a little more work, you could do us proud. You would enjoy being a hunter-searcher. We make up our own rules as we go along."

I’d always liked rules, but in the last week and a half all I’d done was break them. Could I ever go back to the way things had been? Obviously Mandenauer didn’t think so.