Red Hood: The Hunt (14 page)

We approached the outlying buildings near the clearing by the lodge and office building.  We found out quickly that Daria moved almost soundlessly unless I mentioned it.  When she was moving on instinct, the only sound we made was the rustling of my cloak.  But if she was thinking about it, then she was clumsy and about as subtle as a grizzly bear tiptoeing through a box of glass Christmas ornaments.  I told her so and she stuck out her doggy tongue at me.  I had to suppress a laugh that would have alerted any sentries to our presence.

We saw and smelled two sentries.  One on the roof of the office building with a sniper rifle and one at the lodge.  We don't know how many were in the buildings.  All the vehicles in the compound were trashed and all the tires flat. I flexed my fingers in the fur of Daria's ruff and she backed into the shadows with me as we communicated instinctively with body language.

My stomach gurgled.  We had expended a lot of energies last night and I was feeling dehydrated too  I had heard Daria's stomach gurgle a few times as well.  Not to mention we hadn't had a wink of sleep in over twenty-four hours.  We needed to keep up our energy if we were going to get out of this alive.

I looked at what looked like a vehicle maintenance building on the edge of the forest near us and a tiny caretaker's cabin.  I motioned to them with my eyes and whispered, “We need to find some food and a phone.”  She nodded agreement, it was so odd to see a wolf making human-like motions, it looked so unnatural.

I nudged my head toward the maintenance shed, “You take the shed, I'll take the cabin.”  She made an odd whine and I looked at the almost comical look on her face.  I had never known wolves could have so many facial expressions other than a snarl.  She held up one of her large paws toward me and turned its pads up and nudged her chin at it.  I stared at it trying to understand what she was attempting to tell me.

Then I got it and smiled.  She chuffed at my thick-headedness, my girl had no thumbs.  I said, “Right, smartass.  We go together.”  She chuffed again and looked far too smug with her smiling doggy face.  I scratched her skin under my fingers where I was still in contact with her then we both froze.  I looked down at her, “I'm so sorry, it felt natural.”
Good lord, I was treating her like a dog.

She tilted her head then in answer leaned against me, moving her neck tighter against my hand.  I relaxed, ok, she seemed to like it.  I wondered if it were her or her wolf that liked it.  I exhaled. I had to get her back to normal.

She dropped into a crouch, keeping her center of gravity low, and her ears cocked toward the cabin as we both stalked forward.  I wonder if she realized she had adopted the typical defensive hunting posture for a wolf.  She guided me in, padding silently through the trees, my hand on her shoulder.  I wondered if she minded I wanted to keep in contact with her, my life was over when I thought I had lost her.  I just liked the reassurance that she was still there, still with me, still my Daria.

We reached the back door to the cabin and I peeked in the window.  I could smell the unwashed human, lupus human, all around the cabin.  Inside was a single room with a kitchenette on one side and a tiny common room with a couch folded out into a bed that was in disarray.  I doubt the occupant ever bothered folding it back up again if his apparent lack of hygiene was an indicator.

The almost overwhelming stench of an outhouse twenty yards into the forest told me that there was no running water in the cabin and the man's diet was atrocious.  He was one of the wolves closing in on us, I recognized the man's stench on the wind.  We only had maybe five or ten minutes before the tightening ring of men and women converged on us here.  We needed to be gone before then.

I smiled when I saw a cell phone charging by the kitchenette.  We stepped to the back door and I looked down to meet those wondrous eyes of hers. I joked, “I'm sorry detective, but we're about to commit breaking and entering, you can arrest me later.”  I winked and she chuffed.

I grabbed the door knob and found the door was locked.  I sighed and asked, “I don't suppose you have any lock picks on you?”  She comically raised a paw and patted herself around the chest where her paws could reach, then smiled a fangy smile and shrugged.  I slapped a hand over my mouth as I laughed out, squelching it before it gave us away.  I shook my head and grinned at her. “You Daria, are a funny woman.”  She looked pleased.

I rolled my eyes and said, “Luckily, I brought my own lock pick.”  I grasped the doorknob and twisted, using the strength of my curse and with the slightest sound of metal giving way.  The lock tumblers broke, the knob turned, and we were in.

We kept low and away from the front window since there were no curtains and we had a view of the office building.  The place reeked more on the inside, it even smelled like werewolf.  He had changed in here before.  I was about to wonder how the place was still in one piece.  A wolf would go crazy trying to get out.  Then I noticed the comically huge doggy door in the front door of the cabin.

I removed my hand from where it was buried in Daria's fur.  I missed her heat immediately.  Then I opened the little under counter refrigerator in the kitchenette with one hand as I reached for the faucet on the small stainless steel sink.  I was right, no running water.  Damn.  There wasn't a lot in there.  A package of hamburger, I had noted the barbecue at the side of the cabin.  And a couple beers and three colas.

I grabbed a couple colas and opened them then just stared dumbly at Daria.  Ummm...  She sighed and stood up on her hind legs placing her paws on the counter and she grabbed a bowl in her jaws and then set it down.  Her shoulders slumped and I heard an audible sigh and a sound that I'm sure was one of her colorful swear words if she had been in her human form.  God this must be degrading for her.

I crouched and placed a hand on the soft fur of her cheek and she closed her eyes and leaned into the contact.  Then she opened her eyes and nudged her eyes toward the bowl.  I whispered, “Sorry, again.”  I poured the cola into the bowl and she lapped it up as I guzzled mine.  We both burped from the carbonation at the same time and she chuffed.

A quick perusal of the cupboards revealed a small package of beef jerky, some peanut butter, and some crackers.  I sat on the floor and she positioned herself behind me, allowing me to relax and lay on her like a great stuffed cushion as I shared our bounty.

She growled at my obvious pleasure watching her try to get the peanut butter off the roof of her mouth.  I already know I'm going to hell one day, but now I really know it.  It was hilarious to watch.  We finished off the other cola but were still feeling dehydrated so I split a beer with her.

She kept looking at the refrigerator.  I snuggled into her warm belly and asked, “The other beer?”  She froze and then lowered her head.  I tilted my head and furrowed my brow then sat up a little to meet her eyes.  “The hamburger?”

If a wolf could show shame, she just did as she averted my gaze.  My mouth had been watering the moment I saw the meat and even though it was old and dead, the blood smelled divine.  With all of the positive aspects the curse gave me to fight the werewolves, I got a lot of their nature too.  I was a predator, a carnivore.  At first the fact that I craved raw meat sickened me when I first became the Red Hood, I've had over a century to come to terms with it.  So I recognized the conflict in her eyes.

I pushed both of my hands deep into her fur and massaged her hot flesh.  “It's alright Daria.  It is natural.  To tell the truth, I wanted to dig into it the moment I saw it but I didn't want to freak you out.”  I pulled my hands back and sat up and reached over to open the refrigerator.  I pulled out the hamburger and unwrapped it.  The smell of blood overrode the smell of dead meat.  I was salivating.

I took a bit between my fingers and looked at her then put it in my mouth and savored it, then swallowed.  I took some more and offered it to her.  Her nostrils flared as she inhaled, then her mouth opened and she took in the tastes in the air.  Her lips curled back to reveal an impressive set of killing fangs.  She almost daintily took the meat between her teeth from me and in a snap and gulp it was gone.

She looked ashamed, but she was visibly drooling now.  I wrapped one arm backward around her big neck and pulled her in and kissed her fuzzy cheek and said.  “It's okay, it's good.”

I put half the meat in her bowl and we looked at each other once, then we both Ummm... wolfed the meat down.  This had to be the most disgusting part of my curse.  I wiped the blood from my hands and from her muzzle.  She looked indignant but satisfied.  I stood and grabbed the cell phone from the counter and stared at it.  It was one of those computer-y smart phone things with no buttons.

I looked at her sheepishly.  “I don't suppose you can tell me how to use this thing?”  She sagged.  Then I looked around at it.  It had a couple buttons on it and a big round one on the front.  I pressed it and the screen turned on but it was flickering and static came from the speaker in random bursts.  I could make out something like slide or lock.

Daria made a sideways motion with her paw.  I put a finger on the text and looked at her then mimicked her motion as the static increased on the speaker and the screen was flickering more sporadically.  Lots of icons showed up whenever I could see the screen clearly.  My damn magic was wreaking havoc on the poor device.  I looked at her and she looked confused as to how to instruct me.  So I looked at the icons, one looked like a telephone receiver so I pressed down on it and then the icons all started shaking.

She made a frustrated noise and then tapped her paw quickly.  Then repeated the motion.  I tapped, but nothing happened.  I hit the big button again and they stopped shaking.  I could barely make out the icons now, the screen was dimming.  Then I quickly tapped the phone icon and representations of a telephone keypad appeared for a second as the device fizzled a moment then I could see them again.

I hit 911 then looked at her. She dipped her head multiple times and made that frustrated sound again.  I defended myself and said, “Hey, technology and I don't get along, don't blame me if I'm not up on using these gadgets.”  She kept dipping her head, I looked at the bottom of the screen.  There was some green icon.  In a fit of static, I saw the word “send” and tapped it.

We heard a terrible static then a ring.  I was elated when I heard in the din of the increasing static, “911, what is your emergency?”  Before I could say anything, the phone went dead and I could smell something electrical burning.”

We looked at each other.  I closed my eyes a second, asking, “I don't suppose they can track the GP thingy?”  My pretty wolf cocked her head in confusion, I know it wasn't the right terminology.  I have never bothered to learn much about the wonders of the new age as technology advanced, since I couldn't use any of it.  Hardwired phones, and older automobiles without onboard computers are as modern as I can handle.

One of my two long dead Romanian lovers had created an answering service for me.  It is still in service today with me as the only client, the rare times I actually collect bounties as a Hunter, I use to keep them and their families well fed.  They moved to the States when I did as I hunted Marcus.  Peggy is almost like family to me, though she is starting to get up there in age, but she is training her granddaughter, Sara, the ropes, so she would be the fourth generation to provide me support.

I can drop by there in Denver any time and they show me things like the Internet and how to look stuff up, though most computers have a shelf life of about ten minutes with me operating them.  So it is easier just to step away from them and have others operate them for me.

Her eyes widened realizing what I was asking and she squinted an eye and nodded then shook her head.  I contemplated that a moment and asked, “Maybe?”  She nodded at that.  I smiled.  “We have to find a way to communicate better.”  Then I gave her a sly look and played with her a little. “Maybe one bark for yes, two for no?”

This prompted her to curl her lips back to expose her fangs and she growled deeply.  I chuckled and she chuffed.  Then we both cocked our ears... the men were almost here.  I said, “Time to go.”

I paused at the back door and she turned back to me with a questioning tilt to her head. I reached into my cloak and pulled out her torn clothes and rubbed them on the door jamb then tore a tiny piece off and snagged it a crack in the door jamb.  She got it and nodded with her doggy grin.  They still don't know about her.

I slid a hand onto her shoulder, running my fingers through her fur to touch her skin and we were off.  We climbed a rough rocky area to the north where it would be hard for humans to follow.  It was the only gap in their tightening ring we could detect.  Then she froze, her nose working in the air when the wind shifted.

She started back down the hill and I had to restrain her, I scented the air, pulling it into my nostrils and across my tongue.  There was a familiar smell.  Daria's sister was down there.  She strained at my grip and growled at me.  I looked at her.  “No, we have to be smart about this.  We'll come back with reinforcements during the daylight.”  She growled again then nodded once.

We could see Marcus come into the clearing below, by the lodge with others.  They were all naked since they shifted back to human in the wilderness by the mine.

Mrs. Remington, Prue, and the mayor following behind him.  When he stopped, Prue and the mayor sat down by his feet and lowered their heads submissively.  My blood boiled.  The bastard was doing that to them just to humiliate them, making them act like nothing more than slaves.  I swore to myself that he would not outlive this lunar cycle.