Chapter Seven #2
“Well then.” I started to take slow steps toward the bedroom of the cabin, then just ran in and slammed the door.
I put my back to the door, closed my eyes, and took several slow breaths.
I instantly thought of Val’s naked body that I had just seen, and a warm tingle went through me.
She was all woman, even the parts that most people would not see that way.
Then, my mind flashed to the dream I had after her back massage, and the tingle grew exponentially.
If we were not on the run, I think it might still be okay to be out in the middle of nowhere with Val.
I tried to push thoughts of Val and her shapely chest and other physical features out of my mind and set about getting dressed.
I was just pulling my shoes on when a knock came at the door.
“Can I come in?”
“Are you still naked?” It took me a minute to realize I did not know what I wanted the answer to that question to be.
“No.”
Damn. “Sure.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, sure, I am just ducky. I did see it, you know. I saw this show on cable on how they changed the laws about exotic pets and some people just drove their big cats out into the middle of nowhere and let them go rather than pay the new license fees.”
Val looked at me like I was an idiot. “It might have been a mountain lion. They still roam around here once in a while. Just in case, I will give you one of my pistols. If it shows up again, fire a couple of rounds in the air, and it will take off.” She pulled the gun from her house and started to hand it to me.
She hesitated, then pulled the clip out, put a new one in, and handed it to me.
She stashed the original clip in her back pocket.
“What’s the deal?”
“Nothing. I just wanted you to have a fresh clip.”
“If you’re worried about me having enough bullets, then give me both.” I reached out my hand, and she took a step back. Now, I was starting to get irked.
“What you got is just fine. These are armor-piercing rounds made to be used against people wearing body armor. If a cougar shows up, then your regular bullets will work just fine.”
Now, I was getting more irked. I could tell she was lying, and I should know; as a writer, I told lies for a living. I let it go, but a little of the heat of seeing her running around in her birthday suit went away.
“Whatever.”
“Hey, I did get some more info. That thug who accosted you at the game store is a member of a biker gang called the Hell Pack. What they have to do with your sister or how they found you, I don’t know.”
She was speaking closer to the truth but there was more to this, I could tell by subtext. “Well, what is our next move?”
“You are going to hang out here for a few days. I am going back to the city to continue the investigation and find you a good lawyer. Then you are going to turn yourself in.”
“Um, hell and no.”
“Um, yes. Things might get dangerous.”
“Yeah, because they have been so safe so far.” Val glared at me as I interrupted her, and I noticed that her eyes were a light brown, almost golden color.
“You know better than me that the longer the time after a person’s disappearance, the less chance of them being found.
I am not going to sit around here in Bum Fricken Egypt while any chance we have of finding her goes away.
” That sounded like something Dominique would say.
“We will talk about it.”
I could tell she did not mean that, but we would cross that bridge when we got to it. “I saw some more of my sister’s stuff in your trunk. I am going to check it out and see if I can find anything.”
I went back to the car and found a backpack full of dice in all shapes and sizes, as well as several thick, hardbound books. Back in the room, I pulled them all out and spread them all over the bed.
“I don’t think that your sister’s gaming habits had anything to do with her disappearance.”
I ignored Val and picked up the first book, The Facade Player’s Guide.
I had never done any role-playing (well, not any that involved dice), no matter how hard my sister had tried to sell me on it.
I think I spent so much time living in my own world when I was writing that when I wasn’t, I wanted to be out in the real world.
But as I read the player’s guide, I got an idea of why my sister liked it.
The Facade had an extraordinarily rich and developed mythology; there was a group of animal totem spirits that a person could model their character on, everything from wolves and bears to more exotic creatures like crocodiles and anacondas.
It started with you getting enhanced senses and agility and progressed all the way to where you could shift either wholly or partially into the animal’s form.
The book indicated that these shapeshifters, or the Night Menagerie as they were called, had lived among humans in the shadows for thousands of years.
You became one of these creatures after surviving an attack by one of them, but you did not necessarily follow the form of what creature infected you.
The spirits decided who they wanted and presented a challenge to the candidate before they would bestow their power on them.
As you gained power, the totem spoke to you in dreams, marking you first outwardly, then inwardly, making a person manifest features and personality traits like their totems.
I leaned back from the book and saw a mirror across the room.
I stopped as I took in my reflection. There was a series of small black dots and stripes on my forehead like dirt or blood I had missed.
I got up and scrubbed at them, but they would not come off.
I got really close; they looked like the faint tracings of a snow leopard’s face markings.
I leaped up from the bed, ran into the front room, and tackled Val.
“What the hell?”
As she hit the floor, I ran my hand all over her backside until I got hold of the clip in her back pocket, then I rolled off her.
“Are you serious?” Val stopped talking as she saw the clip in my hand. I flipped the top bullet out of the clip and caught it in my other hand. I held it up, and it was not a dull black armor-piercing round. It was shiny, like silver.
“You bitch. I thought you were on my side; you’re not. You are part of all this.”
“Take it easy, Sah. Let me explain.”
I pulled the gun out from the back of my pants and, in one smooth motion, ejected the clip and loaded the one with silver rounds into it. My anger seemed to give me a newfound focus.
“No wonder that guy looked so surprised when I shot him. It takes silver to bring one of you down.”
“One of us, Sah.”
I chambered the first round. “What the fuck is going on? Where is my sister?”
“I don’t know.”
I pulled the hammer back.
“I don’t know!”
“You know more than you have been telling me.”
“Yes. Your sister survived an attack, just like you did.”
“So, the game shit is real.”
“Some of it. The clan lords created it as a way we could come out into the open more but still stay hidden. We hold tournaments and conventions, and while the fans are dressing up in costumes and makeup, even the most animalistic of us can walk around in public view. We are paving the way for us to come out to the world.”
“What are you?”
“I am a jaguar.”
I hit her on the head with the pistol. “You were spying on me.”
Val took a step back. “I was keeping an eye on you. You killed two of the Hell Pack, and they are going to be coming for you.”
“And it had nothing to do with me being naked.”
“I think however I answer that question, I will get hit again.”
I raised the gun to strike and decided she was right. “So, what happened to my sister? What is your part in all of this?”
“Your sister is a wolf; she started to figure out there was more to the game than it appeared. The Hell Pack is one of the groups the council uses to keep its secrets. They were just supposed to put a scare in her. She fought back hard; she got away, but not before being marked. She made it to the hospital and then disappeared; that is all I know.”
“You didn’t answer my other question. What is your part in all of this?”
“I got called in to clean up the mess and find your sister. I was supposed to talk, yes, talk her into joining us, keeping the secrets. Then you showed up.”
“So, you did know the biker. Did you even arrest him?”
“I had the patrol officer hold him for a few hours. I had no idea they would be able to find you. I was supposed to lower the temperature. I did not want anyone to be hurt, especially you, Sah.”
“And yet…” I had to keep talking tough, not let Val know how much this hurt. “What about me? What am I?”
“I don’t know. You have the feel of a cat, but not one I have ever experienced.”
I wanted to… I don’t know what I wanted to do. An hour ago, I was thinking about bumping uglies, and now I felt I should beat Val down. My head spun wildly. I waved the guns toward the door.
“Get out! Get out of here! I need some time.”
Val walked out the door, and I started crying.