Hair, Greg - Werewolf 01 (8 page)

“Before you ask,” she said, “I
am
your mother. I know this doesn’t help after what’s happened. But I need to tell you while I still have time.”

“Who is my father? Who was Hank? Why did you stay with him if he wasn’t my father?” Jamie asked. The questions kept piling up in his brain.

Angel continued, “Your father’s name was Sam. We were together when you were conceived. This was in another city. It doesn’t matter where; you have no connections to the place. We had been dating for several months. He proposed after we found out I was pregnant. I said yes.”

Jamie sat in the nearest chair.

“I was in love with your father, and he was in love with me. Then something terrible happened. He was killed by a wild animal.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“What kind of animal?” Jamie asked.

“They didn’t know.” She found it difficult to get out the next part. “They had trouble identifying the body.”

Jamie felt the anger swell within him. So his father
was
dead. Only he hadn’t killed him. That was a relief, but his dad had still been taken from him.

“I met Hank while working as a waitress. We went out a few times. He had a job, said he would take care of me. He wasn’t like that then, the way that you knew him. He wasn’t like your father, but he wasn’t the person that you knew. I’m sorry that you had to endure what you did.” She closed her eyes, finding it more difficult to speak. Her breathing became shallow.

Jamie watched as the end began. He reached out and held her hand. She felt so cold.

“I’m sorry, baby,” she said, her eyes closed. “I wish I could have given you a better life. I think I could have with your father—your real father. Please forgive me. I’ll see you later, my darling boy. I love you.”

Jamie squeezed her hand as her breath flowed out softly. A few tears trickled down his face while one cascaded down hers. He was now alone. The woman who had given birth to him was gone, and he was overcome with grief and heartache. He was more consumed, however, with intense hatred and anger. He was going to find whatever killed his father and started the whole chain of events that led to the ruin of his life. He was going to find the animal, now that he was one himself, and destroy it just as it had destroyed him.

Jamie sat at the bus stop, going mad at the thoughts of his mother dying at his hands and his father being taken from him before he was born. He hated his life even more. He hated everything. He hated everyone. The thirst for vengeance and blood filled him. The only problem was that he didn’t know where to start. He had no location where to begin and only the name Sam to help guide him. He looked up and down the street, not knowing which way to turn, when his thoughts suddenly began to form a word in his head.
Louisville
.

Jamie shook his head, wondering why that city crept into his brain. It was like the thought wasn’t his. It was persistent, though. He stepped out of the bus stop, turned left, and stopped.
Turn around
. He shuddered as he stood frozen. He came to the conclusion that some kind of psychic ability must come with his newfound powers. He chalked it up to a built-in guidance system and shrugged off the voice in his head. Jamie turned around, and headed south.

9

Landon had been examining the newspaper carefully over the past few days, the recent discoveries of numerous mutilated bodies. Not human bodies, but those of animals—or what was left of them. The number of animal mutilations across the entire Louisville area was disturbingly high. He hadn’t felt any electrical charges run through his body in quite some time, which meant it wasn’t one of the others. The culprit was another werewolf.

Landon hung a map of the city on the living room wall and inserted tacks into the areas where the bodies had been found. He finally had some sort of decoration in his apartment. There didn’t appear to be any discernable pattern to the grisly atrocities—most of the bodies were downtown, a few in the East End, and a handful in the West End. Whoever it was wasn’t preplanning the activities. The killings were sloppy, nothing like those committed by someone who was trying to cover up a trail. Landon was formulating a plan.

He studied the map again, and looked back at LillyAnna as she made coffee. She was again wearing some borrowed sweat pants and a t-shirt. LillyAnna was now staying with Landon in his apartment, having moved some of her stuff in a few days earlier. No one had seen Scott since he fled the scuffle with Landon and LillyAnna. Landon gave her the bed; he took the couch.

Because he was like her, he understood her, which was something that Scott couldn’t do no matter how hard he tried. She noticed him looking at her as he stood beside the map.

“What?” she asked in a
I know you’re up to something
kind of tone.

“I’m not real crazy about doing this,” he said, walking over to his cup of coffee. “But I could use you.”

“Is this part of your plan to help me?” she asked, smiling.

“No—Yes—I don’t know,” he stammered. “Do you want to help or not?”

“Okay, okay, calm down. Yes, I’ll help. All you have to do is ask. This is my opportunity to do something good with what I have, right? Though I’m not eager to kill someone, no matter who, or what, the person is. What’s your plan?”

“The West End is on the other side of downtown. I know that area better than you do. The other killings were out this way. We split up. You’re in the East End. Stay in human form. Don’t rely solely on your eyes; use all of your senses. The air around you contains lots of information if you know how to access it and what to do with it. If something happens, shift and howl—I’ll hear you. I can get to you quickly. Besides, I know you can hold your own in a fight for a few minutes.”

“Thanks. Look, I’m an animal lover as much as the next person, but if they’re a werewolf, maybe they just need to eat,” said LillyAnna. “I mean, they’re not really hurting people.”

“Not yet. Sometimes animal mutilations lead to something more.”

“Okay,” she said, nervously. “When is this happening?”

“Tonight.”

“Not the most elaborate of plans, is it?” she asked.

“It doesn’t need to be. Our quarry isn’t the most elaborate of thinkers,” he said, sipping his drink, which contained almost as much Irish Cream flavoring as coffee.

“Our
quarry
? You know no one talks like you,” she said with a flirtatious smile.

That evening the setting sun colored the sky in brilliant hues of pink and orange. Landon pulled his BMW into a neighborhood just off Westport Road.

“Remember, change, then call me. I’m leaving the car with you. It’ll offer some limited protection for a short time while I make my way back, if I need to. Don’t engage him if you don’t have to. I said earlier that the one we’re seeking doesn’t put a lot of thought into this. That could work in our favor. Most likely, he has no escape routes planned out. He’s not expecting us, and he’s careless, which means he’ll make mistakes. The flip side is that he’s unpredictable. If he’s not thinking about what he’s doing, he’ll act and react with little or no thought regarding any consequences. That actually makes him more dangerous than the usual prey. Or
her
, I suppose. We can’t assume we are looking for a man.”

“Wow, you’re making me feel so much more comfortable with this,” she said sarcastically.

“Don’t worry. I may be downtown, but that’s not as far away for me as you may think, just in case he shows up where you are.”

“That may be, but you’re still not Superman.”

“No, but, you’re just gonna have to trust me. Listen, if you get into trouble, run. I can track you. I can find you. I’ll get to you.”

With her almond eyes, she gave an expression like she understood that he meant every word of what he said, that Landon would be there for her when she needed him. Other feelings began to surface when he suddenly broke the moment.

“It’s time,” he said, starting down the street toward downtown.

“Okay,” she said, watching him walk away.

Reaching downtown, he walked into a back alley, the same alley out of which bystanders had witnessed him explode into his chase of the hit-and-run driver several nights before. Extending his fingernails to form claws, he climbed the side of a building and perched on the roof for a better vantage point. The air around him spoke with scents and sounds that only someone like him, a werewolf or other creature, could decipher.

He thought about LillyAnna, that he didn’t like using her like this.
She’ll be fine
, he told himself. He couldn’t be distracted.
Stay focused
. He couldn’t get her out of his mind.
Did I do the right thing?

He felt the city inhale and exhale the life that existed within its body. The cells that ran through its veins pulsed to their own vibrations. The smells and sounds formed pictures in his mind of the various scenes taking place throughout the metro area. There were moments when he despised what he was, but there were few living creatures that could feel what he was feeling at that moment. And he loved that.

The heartbeats of the various life forms prowling the streets and the liquor on the breath of passersby evaporated from below. The sound of rats moving about in the sewers mingled with the shuffling feet of the people scurrying above them. There was one specific animal he was searching for, however.

Landon peered over the city from the building’s roof, observing and waiting, when a distant cry pierced his ears. It was LillyAnna. The killer was there. Running to the edge of the roof, Landon jumped, and transformed before landing on the adjacent roof. People walking below had no idea that above them, a hulking beast was racing on rooftops toward the river, following a course to the East End.

Werewolves are incredibly fast, but Landon was faster than most. Not because he was on the track team in high school, but as the result of years of hunting, chasing, and catching. He was built for the hunt.

The howling grew louder as he raced through the woods that lined the Ohio River. Landon never felt the low branches that struck his body. If someone had attempted to look at what was running through the trees, a red blur would have been all they saw. His auburn fur and glowing red eyes moved so quickly that his shape couldn’t be determined.

He reached the last place he left LillyAnna in about five minutes, a new record. There was no trace of her or the other werewolf. He raised his head to the starry sky and breathed deeply. There, between the gasoline and wood-burning fireplaces, he caught her scent and the other’s. They were close, but on the move.

He tracked them through the neighborhoods, across the main road, into the fields, and over the train tracks. There he found them. They stood only feet apart, growling, circling, each taking swipes at the other with their massive claws. The blond werewolf was about the same size as LillyAnna—and male. Landon could see a large gash on her back as they completed another circle. His eyes burned hotter.

Landon jumped forward, and pushed her out of the way landing on top of the other male. The smaller of the two tried to get out from under Landon, but was unable to move. He was too inexperienced, and Landon was too powerful. LillyAnna stepped forward in a provoking manner. Landon liked her spunk, but now wasn’t the time. He growled at her to step away. She growled back.

The new male tried again to push Landon away, with no result. Seeing that he was outmanned and unable to win, he succumbed and reverted to his human form. Landon and LillyAnna followed suit, but not before she gave the wolf one last growl. All three stood naked by the railroad tracks.

“You’re just a kid,” Landon said. “What’s your name?”

“I’m not telling you. You just tried to kill me.”

“If we wanted you dead,” began LillyAnna, “you’d be that way. Answer the question.”

“Jamie. My name’s Jamie.”

“We need to get outta here. Jamie, follow us back to my car. I’ve got clothes there.”

“The hell I am,” said Jamie.

“Yeah, the hell you are. You can go with or without physical assistance. The choice is yours.”

“And don’t try anything funny,” LillyAnna said.

“Wait a minute. Who the hell are you people?” asked Jamie. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I’ve got things I gotta do.”

“Look, we’ll talk in the car,” said Landon. “We gotta go.”

“Fine. Shouldn’t we change back so someone doesn’t see three naked people running around?” Jamie asked.

“Do you not know how fast you can run even in this form?” Landon asked. “Never mind. You follow me. She’ll be right behind you. It’s not far; it’ll only take a few seconds.”

Jamie watched Landon take off. Within a few seconds, he was a football field’s length away.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” asked LillyAnna.

Jamie looked at her naked body in the light of the street lamps.

“Forget it,” she said. “You’d better go.”

Jamie turned back toward Landon’s direction and began running. The storefronts flew by, and he reached Landon’s car within a minute. He had just run about a mile. LillyAnna was right beside him. The three quickly got in the car and into clothes. Jamie took the back seat as Landon pulled onto the road toward home.