Victoria Nelson - Blood Trail Part 20

The growl was a warning and something deep in Celluci's hindbrain recognized it as such. He didn't listen. "Well? I'm waiting!" He didn't have to wait long. His tottering world view fell and shattered as thumbs were shoved behind shorts, shorts. .h.i.t the floor, and a great black beast that seemed mostly teeth leapt suddenly for his throat. Then something pushed him back and Henry and the beast were on the floor.

Henry had thrown his good shoulder under the charge and managed to force Stuart's fur-form down.

With only one arm, however, he couldn't keep him there without injuring him.At least his anger's been redirected. .

Celluci knew a man couldn't possibly move as fast as Henry Fitzroy was moving. The beast lunged and Fitzroy was somewhere else. Instantly. Or as near as made no difference. Again. And again. And again.

With barely a heartbeat between. And through it all came the deep-throated growl of an enraged animal, building to a savage crescendo with each attack.

A deadly little dance,Henry realized as teeth snapped closed on the air beside his hip. Even with one bad arm he knew he could force the wer to submit - he was stronger and faster, but then what? Defeat the dominant male and rule the pack.No thank you, he thought as they scrabbled through another movement. But he could feel himself responding to the scents and the sounds and the anger and wondered how much longer he'd be able to maintain control.There has to be a way to break through.

Suddenly, it was no longer his problem.

With Donald still on the floor, the red wer attacking had to be Storm. Henry backed quickly out of the way while the two rolled snarling and snapping then sprang apart, circled, and charged together again.

Enough!Celluci dropped to one knee and pulled his gun from his ankle holster. He wasn't thinking exactly clearly, he had no real idea of what he was going to shoot -This is someone's kitchen for Chrissakes! - but he felt more in control with the weight of the weapon in his hand.

Then Storm yelped and threw himself down on his back, all four feet in the air and the edge of one ear split. Long white teeth closed around his throat.

Celluci raised the gun.

A high-pitched, piercing howl cut through the chaos and everyone froze, looking like they'd been playing a demented game of statues. Then, in near unison, they turned. Shadow sat just inside the hall door, muzzle raised and throat working as his howl undulated mournfully up and down the scale. It lasted just over a minute, bouncing off the walls, reverberating through bone and blood, impossible to ignore, and then trailing off into a series of hiccuping yelps.Nadine responded first, leaving Donald with Vicki and racing across the room to gather Shadow up into her arms. He pushed closer and tried to bury his head under her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She lifted his head and gazed anxiously down into his eyes. "What is it, baby? What's wrong?"

Given encouragement to speak, and therefore to change, Daniel peered over his mother's shoulder and wailed. "That man's going to shoot my papa!"

All heads now turned to follow Daniel's pointing finger - all except Storm who had been pinned by one of his uncle's huge paws and was now having his bitten ear vigorously licked.

Vicki sat back on her knees, one hand resting lightly on the thick pad of gauze wrapped around Donald's chest, monitoring the rise and fall of his labored breathing with her fingertips. She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Oh for Chrissake, Celluci, put the p.e.n.i.s subst.i.tute away."

A shout of laughter from outside the screen door was the immediate and unexpected response.

Everyone turned yet again as Colin and Barry came into the kitchen, Colin saying, "I told you we'd miss all the good stuff if we stopped for gas."

"I'm sure I saw this once in an old Marx Brothers' movie," Vicki muttered to no one in particular. She raised her voice. "People, what are the odds we could pull ourselves together before the ambulance arrives?"

Colin glanced around the kitchen, nostrils flaring as they caught the varied scents, smile vanishing as he saw the body on the floor. "Dad!" He threw himself to his knees, pushing Vicki away. "What happened to my father?"

"Ricochet. Our marksman missed."

"Is he ... ?""At least one busted rib and some torn up muscle. I don't know about internal injuries."

"Why is he just lying here? We've got to get him to a hospital!" He put his hands under his father's shoulders.

Vicki lifted them away. "Calm down, there's an ambulance coming."

"If you're being shot at in human form now, we'llhave to report it," Barry put in, touching Colin lightly on the back.

"He wasn't," Vicki told him, getting to her feet. "He changed when he hit the house. You must be Barry Wu."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I want to talk to you."

"Yes, ma'am. Later. Uh, if he changed in the house, then. ..." His gaze flickered to Celluci and back.

Vicki sighed. "Yes, he saw." She turned to Celluci, wiping her b.l.o.o.d.y fingers on her shorts. "Please put the gun away, Mike."

Breathing heavily, he looked down at the gun as if he'd never seen it before.

"Put it away, Mike."

He looked up at her and his brows drew down into a deep vee. "This is crazy," he said."There's a perfectly simple explanation," she told him, moving closer. She'd jump him if she had to. With luck, he'd hesitate before shooting her and she'd be able to disarm him.

"Okay." He tossed the curl of hair back off his forehead. "Let's hear it."

Vicki glanced back at Nadine who shrugged.

"Go ahead," she said. "If you think he can handle it."

Vicki thought they didn't have much choice, at least not until they got that gun back where it belonged.

"Your simple explanation?" Celluci prodded.

Squaring her shoulders, she met his eyes and said, as matter-of-factly as she was able, "Werewolves."

"Werewolves," he repeated blankly, then he bent and slipped the .38 into its holster, twitching the leg of his jeans back into place before he straightened. He looked down at Shadow, rubbing himself up against his father's fur, at Storm and Cloud who were doing much the same, and then over at Henry.

"You, too?" he asked.

Henry shook his head. "No."

Celluci nodded. "Good." He drew in a deep breath and then he started to swear. In Italian. He kept it up for almost three minutes and managed to dredge up words and phrases he hadn't used since childhood.

Most of them, he screamed at Vicki who waited patiently for him to run down.

Henry, who spoke fluent if slightly archaic Italian, noted, moderately impressed, that he only repeatedhimself in order to add adjectives to the profanity.

His vocabulary ran out just as the lights of the ambulance turned in at the top of the lane.

The moment they showed, Nadine took charge. "Cloud! Get Shadow back upstairs and make sure he and the twins stay there. Storm stay in fur-form; your ear is still bleeding. Tag, get some clothes on."

Tag?Vicki repeated silently as Stuart scooped up a pair of sweatpants.Stuart's fur-form name is Tag?

"Colin," Nadine continued, closing the hall door behind Cloud and Shadow, "you follow them into town in case he needs blood. Vicki, could you go in the ambulance? If he wakes up. ..."

"No problem."

She'd told the others and asked Vicki - Henry noted the distinction with some amus.e.m.e.nt.

As the paramedics carried Donald out on the stretcher, Celluci grabbed Vicki's arm and pulled her to one side.

"I'm going to follow you in. We have to talk."

"I'll be looking forward to it."

"Good." He drew his lips back off his teeth in a parody of a smile. No one in the room, vampire or wer, could have done it better.

Eleven.

"Because the hospital has to report gunshot wounds, you should know that."Colin glanced over at Barry and the two Ontario Provincial Police constables standing talking by the nurses' station. "You said it was a ricochet."

Vicki rolled her eyes. "Colin. ..."

"Okay, sorry. It's just, well, what am I going to tell them?"

"You aren't going to tell them anything." She smothered a yawn with her fist. "I am. Trust me. I've been at this longer than you have, I know the things a police department wants to hear and the way they want to hear them."

"Vicki." Celluci leaned forward and tapped her on the shoulder. "I hate to burst your bubble, but you are quite possibly the worst liar I know."

She turned to face him, pushing her gla.s.ses up her nose. "Lie to the police? I wouldn't think of it. Every word out of my mouth is going to be the truth."

"So there's been someone taking potshots out of those woods for a while now?"

"Well, I'm not sure three shots countsas potshots, Constable."

"Still should've been reported, ma'am. If someone's firing a hunting rifle out in the conservation area we'd like to know about it."

"The family figured it was just because Arthur Fortrin was out of town," Colin put in.

Given a little direction, Colin was remarkably good at half-truths.But then, he'd have to be, Vicki realized.All things considered.The OPP constable looked dubious. "I don't think the absence of one game warden's going to make much difference. Andyou should've known better." He snapped his occurrence book shut. "Tell your family next time they hear a shot, to call us immediately. Maybe we can spot the guy's car."

"I'll tell them. ..." Colin shrugged.

"Yeah, I know, but will they listen." The constable sighed and glanced over at Vicki. He didn't think much of a Toronto private detective messing around in his neck of the woods, although her police background did lend credibility. His warning to be careful died in his throat when he caught her eye. She looked like a person who could take care of herself - and anything else that crossed her path. "So," he turned back to Colin, "this have anything to do with your Aunt Sylvia leaving?"

Colin snorted. "Well, she did say it was the last straw."

"Didn't she head up to the Yukon?"

"Yeah, her brother, my Uncle Robert, has a place just outside Whitehorse. She said it was getting too crowded around here."

"Your Uncle Jason just took off too, didn't he?"

"Yeah, Father accused Aunt Sylvia of starting an exodus and threatened to lock Peter, Rose, and I in the house until things calmed down."

"Well, frankly I was surprised he stayed around as long as he did. Man needs a place of his own." The OPP constable poked Colin in the ribs with his pen. "When'll you be moving out?"

"When I feel suicidal enough to live on my own cooking."

Both men laughed and the conversation turned to a general discussion of food.

Vicki realized that the wer were perhaps not as isolated as she'd originally thought. Colin leaving the farm and taking a job had brought them to the attention of the police if nothing else. Fortunately, the police tended to take care of their own. As for the shooting; she knew there wasn't much the OPP could do. She could only hope that a few extra patrols up and around the area would give her time to find this psycho before anyone else got killed. The wer would just have to recognize their higher visibility and be more careful when they changed for a while. It seemed a small price to pay.

"... anyway, Donald's fine. The hospital released him into Dr. Dixon's care - that's one persuasive old man - and he'll probably be able to come home tomorrow. Apparently because he was shot in one form and then changed there's no danger of infection. Colin's on his way back, but I thought I should call and fill you in. Oh, and Nadine, I'll be spending the night in town."

"Explanations?"

"Uh-huh."

"Do you trust him with this?"

"I trust Mike Celluci with my life."

"Good. Because you're trusting him with ours."

Vicki half turned so she could see Celluci leaning on the hospital wall across from the phones. He looked tired but impa.s.sive, with all professional barriers raised. "It'll be okay. Can I speak to Henry?"

"Hang on." Nadine held the receiver out to the vampire. "You were right," she told him as he took it.

He didn't appear particularly gratified by this information. If Celluci's face was impa.s.sive, Henry's was stone. "Vicki?"

"Hi. I thought I should tell you, I'm staying in town tonight. I need a little time alone."

"Alone?"

"Well, away."

"I can't say as I'm surprised. You and Mr. Celluci have a great deal to discuss."

"Tell me about it. Do me a favor?"

"Anything." Before she could speak, he reconsidered and added. "Almost anything."

"Stay around the house tonight."

"Why?"

"Because it's 3:40 in the morning and sunrise is around 6:00."