Animal Attraction (29 page)

The agent concentrated on Ryan, who climbed
to his feet and stumbled towards the unconscious Tattingail. My
brother-in-law looked into the preacher’s eyes, took his pulse, and
checked some other things.

Levi asked, “How’s he look, Doc?”

Ryan sounded relieved. “Not too bad, but he
needs a full work up for the concussion. Call in the paramedics and
let’s check on the rest.”

The pair trotted down the lane, heading back
to the pile-up and the cabin to see the damage I’d done. I mused as
I watched them run away. “Panthers and wolves and bears, oh
my.”

Gerald eyed me, laughter shaking his big,
yummy frame. “Get a grip, girl. You’re in trouble, you know.”

“Yeah. I know.” I still couldn’t find the
worry over it, not when Ryan would be going home alive and well to
Ashley and Jesse.

Gerald and Levi had parked the Cougar in the
parking lot, but they had left their clothes at the entrance to the
road. Gerald and I weren’t far away from there, and we walked to
retrieve them. I didn’t comment about what a darned shame it was
going to be for them to get dressed.

To distract myself from my blood-fed libido I
asked, “How did you know?”

Gerald glanced at me. “Where to find you? At
first I followed your – Patricia’s body when it rose and didn’t
respond to me. I knew something weird was up, especially when you
didn’t take a bottle of Blood Potion or try to bite me.”

“Hard to believe her drive to find me was
greater than that to feed. I was ravenous when I got pulled in.
That’s why I lost so much control and probably killed those two
guys back at the cabin.”

“No kidding. Even zombified vampires heed the
instinct to feed above all else.”

I frowned. The actions of my nighttime host
were something I needed to think long and hard about.

I focused on catching up on current events.
“So you followed Patricia here?”

“Not quite. After a few steps, she took off
and flew. I shifted to give chase but lost sight of her within a
few minutes.”

I stared at him in shock. “She flew without
me? Without any problem?”

He nodded, his expression saying he was as
amazed as me. “I guess it’s instinct for a vampire. I have my own
instincts when I shift. Some things as a panther I just know.”

I thought about being lost in the urge to
hunt, when impulse had overruled thought. I had flown without any
trouble at all. Maybe all this time I had been over-thinking the
ability. Maybe it was all about gut feeling.

I sighed. It was too much for me to figure
out right then. I went back to our conversation. “How did you end
up here?”

“You and Dan had said you’d come to the
country club. Patricia’s body flew in this direction. I called up
Levi and told him to meet me out here.”

“Good thing you did that. You kept Ryan from
a murder rap. Too bad you got here too late to save me from the
same, but that’s not your fault.”

“Do you really think you killed them?”

We reached the sign at the head of the road.
Men’s clothes were slung over it. Gerald poked through the two
sets, picking out his jeans and green tee-shirt that would bring
out his kitty-cat eyes.

I was coming down from the blood high and the
first thread of concern wormed its way into my gut. “How could I
not have killed them? I attacked and fed on every one of them
except Tattingail. I was so crazed from hunger and anger ... they
shot me up pretty good. I didn’t have one trace of humanity left in
me until Ryan knocked me halfway across the county.”

“You were shot? Where? With silver?”

I showed him the tiny holes peppering my
stomach, chest, and back. There only a few left. I felt the burn of
not quite a dozen bits of silver still working their way out of me.
Once they were gone, everything would heal.

Gerald shook his head at the damage.
“Vampires withstand silver better than us weres, especially with
fresh blood helping things along. You still should be checked out.
Go tell Warner to have a look, and take Wolf Boy’s clothes to him.
I’ll go back and stay with Tattingail’s waste of skin.”

I did as he said. As I passed Duke and the
other guy I’d taken on the trail, they screamed at the sight of me.
They probably thought I planned to finish the job. Maybe I should
have, but as myself, I am not a killer. I even started to feel
guilt over what I’d done.

I had to face the fact that I possessed the
capacity of a full-blown killer. I might even have to admit to the
one thing that I’d sworn up and down – especially to myself – that
I was not.

I reached the cabin. Steeling myself for the
worst, I entered and went to the back room where Ryan had been
caged and I had lost my mental stuff.

Ryan bent over his former good buddy, the
treacherous Mark. I have to say, my opinion of Ashley’s husband
soared to see him cover the unconscious man with a heavy blanket
he’d found somewhere. I’d never have been able to help someone
who’d betrayed me the way that guy had turned on Ryan.

The werebear glanced up at me as I stood
there looking at my two extremely pale but still breathing victims.
He smiled and said, “They all need treatment, but everyone should
live.”

Levi snorted as he took the clothes I offered
him. “What a shame.” He winked at me as he dressed. “You were
apparently in such a hurry to wreak destruction that you didn’t
stay around long enough to finish anyone off.”

“I’m relieved – I guess.” I’m ashamed to
admit part of me wanted Mark to die. I took his actions personally,
it seemed.

Levi gave me a stern look. “Be very relieved.
You would have been executed, no matter what these idiots’ crimes
are.”

From where his feet stuck to the floor, Dan
added, “You still might be in a lot of trouble. Vampire attacks on
humans are not looked well upon.”

“Hello to you too, handsome,” I smiled.
Seeing Dan went a long way towards quieting some of my bloodier
instincts.

Ryan looked confused. He looked all around to
see who I talked to.

“Ghosts,” Levi informed him, buttoning up his
flannel shirt. He did flannel much better than dorky Ed Duke. “She
sees spirits of the dead. One in particular likes to follow her
around.”

“Oh.” Ryan didn’t know how to respond to
that, so he attended his patients.

Levi’s brow creased in worry. “Doc, how quiet
can we keep this at the hospital? I’d like to keep Ms. Keith among
the undead.”

Ryan regarded me. He scratched behind one
rounded furry ear. “We can’t. It’s obvious something got to these
men.”

I was surprised at Levi. He was law
enforcement after all, and good at it. “You would hush this up? For
me?”

He gave me a look I couldn’t quite read. “We
take care of our own. Right, Doc?”

Ryan gave him a weak smile. “I’m starting to
see that. If you’ve got any ideas, come up with them fast. The
ambulance will be here soon.”

“They’ll have to clear the road first,” I
remarked. “If your patients can live with the delay, let’s keep it
that way.”

Levi paced the room as he thought. Ryan stood
up and stretched and then gathered the tattered remains of his
clothing. He dressed as best he could in the rags.

Dan watched us all but mostly me. The worry
in his face was plain to see. He forced a smile when I caught his
eye. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

I grimaced. “For now. Levi, can I borrow your
cell phone? Dan’s caught in a ward. I need our favorite witch to
come out and release him.”

Levi nodded and passed me his phone. “After
you talk to her, I want to know everything.”

Mark had regained consciousness while I
wasn’t looking. He blinked at us all, his stark white face somehow
going paler still as he looked at me. I was busy dialing however,
so he focused on the man he’d turned against.

His voice barely registering as a whisper, he
said, “Hey, Ryan. You know this is going to ruin a lot of people if
it comes out we were hunting shifters.”

Ryan’s tone was cold. “Yeah. Stu is going to
make a mint off you in legal fees.”

“I had no choice, man! It was all Cliff. He
was behind the whole thing. He blackmailed me into it, same as you.
Come on, for old times’ sake?”

Ryan didn’t bother to reply. His lip curled
in disgust and he turned away. I turned away too, feeling a fresh
pulse of anger. The gall of that man to beg for help from the guy
he’d planned to kill! I couldn’t believe it.

Ylena, the witch who did a lot of work for
Tristan and our gang, picked up the phone. I concentrated on our
conversation, not wanting any new reasons to add murder to my
misdeeds.

Fortunately Ylena agreed to hurry right out
and get Dan unstuck. I gave her directions to the place and told
her she might have to avoid being seen by EMTs and cops. Used to
such drama, she never paused but repeated, “I’ll be right
there.”

I rang off and handed Levi his phone. Mark
was still awake but silent now. Hopefully someone had threatened
him. From the looks on their faces, that could have been either
Ryan or Levi.

We heard sirens in the distance. Levi said,
“I’ve got Ryan’s story. Tell me yours and make it quick.”

I did so. With prompting ... okay, threats
... Mark corroborated what he could. Levi started pacing again. I
felt encouraged that he didn’t look as grim as before.

Finally he said, “I’ve got an idea. You two
stand guard over these meat bags while I go out and fetch the
rest.” He glared at Mark and the other guy who was beginning to
come around. “The sooner you agree to what I propose, the sooner
you stop bleeding. I only told emergency services about the wreck
on the road, not you two or your friends. You could still
disappear. Keep that in mind.”

With that, Levi walked out. I exchanged a
look with Ryan and shrugged my shoulders. I had no idea what the
agent could possibly come up with that would keep us out of
trouble.

Minutes later Levi and Gerald showed up.
Gerald carried a dazed and muttering Tattingail. Duke and the fifth
hunter were on their feet, herded along by the werewolf.

“The paramedics are having trouble locating
the trail. They’re still at the club itself,” Levi reported. “Then
they’ll have to get past that bunch of cars. Still, we’ve got to
get this sorted out pretty quick.”

He told us all what he had in mind. With the
exception of the Tats, who was still too out of it to make much
sense of what was going on, the hunters agreed to what Levi wanted
them to tell authorities. We went over and over the plan, getting
our tale straight. Ryan got to work, using Levi’s knife to make
physical evidence match the story as much as possible without
endangering anyone’s life. There was a lot of screaming from the
humans, but it was either pain or being infected with the Zoo Flu.
Not much choice. Meanwhile, Levi made sure to block the trap door
at the back of the cage so it couldn’t open and allow anyone to
escape. Then he and Gerald got naked to shift again. I averted my
eyes so Dan wouldn’t see me enjoying the spectacular view.

Wolf and panther tore up the cabin’s
interior. When they were done, it looked like wild animals had gone
berserk in there. Which they had, but they’d known what they were
doing. The stage was set.

Five minutes before the paramedics and a host
of police officers swarmed into the cabin, Ylena came in. The
attractive witch with the trendy wardrobe told us about the tow
trucks working to clear the narrow road of the cars clogging the
way. That she’d gotten past them with no one the wiser was of no
surprise. Witches are talented like that.

It took her only seconds to free Dan of the
wards even though she said they’d been put into place by a talented
spell caster. She paused and looked at me.

“You had no trouble getting in here?” she
asked.

I shrugged. “My body marched in after
demolishing the door there. It showed no hesitation.”

“Interesting,” she said, looking me over.
“This building is warded well against vampires. Your unique
circumstances seem to have nullified the spells.”

I had nothing to say about that. I decided to
be grateful. Without Patricia’s body getting to me, Dan and I would
still be trapped and Ryan might be dead.

Ylena didn’t waste time wondering. She left,
never once asking what kind of mess we were in. Ylena is one of the
few people I knew who minds her own business. As long as we’re all
okay, she’s satisfied with that.

Dan hurried to me. His palm cupped my cheek,
and I felt the ghostly brush that made me feel more right than
gallons of fresh blood.

We trooped out to the porch. Ryan shucked off
the sad remains of his clothes. He shifted. He and Levi, clothes in
their jaws, ran off into the night. They still had work to do.

The first lights of police cars and
ambulances appeared in the lane. I held out Gerald’s clothes to him
in his panther guise, and he took them in his mouth as the other
two had. He paused long enough to make sure I got off the ground. I
hovered in the air to see him melt into the woods, a long, sleek
shadow loping for his car before anyone noted its presence in the
country club’s parking lot.

From the ground, Dan gave me a little wave
and blew me a kiss. I blew one back and he disappeared.

I flew across the star-shattered sky, soaring
as if I’d been born to it. I started to think everything might turn
out all right after all.

Well, as all right as things ever get around
the teapot tempest that was Fulton Falls.

Chapter 13

“...in the wake of the bear attack on the
hunters who illegally caught it and planned to sell it to the
highest bidder, the community of Fulton Falls is demanding a full
investigation into their activities on country club grounds. The
city of Waycross has also announced its intentions to call a vote
relieving head prosecutor Edward Duke, already under investigation
for other supposed misdeeds.”