Werewolf Upstairs (19 page)

Her own instructor looked back, and even under his goggles, she saw his eyes pop. Something told her Konrad wasn’t supposed to have jumped when he did. Now what? If she opened her chute, it would hit the jumpers behind her.

“Holy shit,” her instructor yelled. He veered off to one side, trying to clear a path for the other two. Apparently both Konrad and his instructor were afraid. Roz could barely see Konrad’s face anymore, but he looked terrified, and his instructor was still praying, his head resting against Konrad’s back.

Something was wrong. They were tumbling. Was his instructor that much of a wise guy that he’d
try
to scare Konrad?

Roz waited in uncertainty until her instructor tapped her arm and yelled, “Pull!”

She pulled and waited an anxious couple of seconds for the sail to billow and the wind to fill it. The chute yanked them out of their high-speed descent, and she glided more gently. But where the heck were Konrad and his highly religious instructor?

She peered down. Her heart was in her throat when she finally spotted them,
way
below. Their chute finally opened. Thank God! Wait until she got her hands on that instructor. She’d give him a piece of her mind he wouldn’t forget.

At last, out of freefall, and with Konrad out of danger, she could relax and enjoy the view. She looked down at her feet hanging in midair and then at the earth below. She saw a far-off lake and mountains, smaller ponds, and trees. As she descended further, the air strip, parking lot, building, and cars grew larger and more distinct.

The ground came closer and closer. She’d lost track of where Konrad was. The other two must have wound up behind them.

At last her feet touched down, and she bent her knees to absorb the impact. Her instructor landed at the same time in the same way, so she didn’t even fall over. If she hadn’t been so worried about Konrad, the ride might have been fun. She grinned, but mostly because it was over.

She noticed the few people waiting on the ground were ignoring them and shading their eyes, staring with open mouths at something off to the right.

Following their gaze, she spotted the other two jumpers, but it looked like their chute had collapsed, and they were in the trees.

Roz gasped, then let out a scream so loud she barely recognized her own voice.

Ouch, oh, ouch, ow, ow, oh…Konrad hit pine tree branches, taking the impact to his face and body as he tried to protect the poor guy strapped to his back. He was fairly sure he could survive a hard fall. He didn’t know if his instructor could.

At last they stopped falling and bounced, suspended, above the ground. As soon as Konrad caught his breath, he called out, “Hey, are you all right back there?”

An eerie silence answered him.

“Shit.” He squirmed despite his pain, trying to pull himself loose from the harness so he could turn around and examine his instructor. “Damn trees,” he muttered.

Konrad knew their descent wasn’t normal. He just didn’t know what to do about it. His instructor yelled something like, “Don’t!” as Konrad dragged him out the door. He hadn’t heard him speak since.

But Roz had screamed in fear. He had to be sure she was all right and reassure her, and himself.

People ran toward them shouting. He groaned and didn’t know if he should call out that they were okay or not. He was cut and bruised, but breathing. He couldn’t speak for the man strapped to his back.

When the first two guys got to them, they called out, “Are you all right?”

Konrad answered, “Yes, I think so” and waited an anxious moment.

At last a shaky voice behind him said, “Fuck. What the hell—?”

“Curtis!” yelled a guy from the ground. “Are you okay? What happened?

The guy behind him spoke in exhaled breaths. “Student panicked…Bailed too soon…Hit my head…Managed to…pull the drogue…before I…passed out…Came to…just now.”

Roz and her instructor were among the last to arrive. She looked up at them with wild eyes. “Help them,” she cried.

One of the onlookers said, “They’ve got to be fifty feet up. It would take anyone a while to climb, even a professional tree climber. Hey guys, if I throw you a knife, can you cut your way out?”

“I’ll give it a shot,” Konrad called down to them. He felt blood trickle down his face.

“They might fall!” Roz cried. “Wait, they’re not far in. Maybe the fire department can reach them.”

Konrad’s hearing was so acute, he could understand what people were saying on the ground, even when they were whispering among themselves.

Roz’s instructor nodded. “Good idea. Besides, it’s against protocol to climb down from a tree landing.”

Roz looked around at the small crowd that had gathered and asked, “Can someone call 911 and ask them to bring a ladder truck?”

“I will,” one of the female employees said. She pulled a cell phone from her vest pocket.

Roz turned to the woman and said, “Have them bring a couple of ambulances too. They could have internal injuries.”

“No ambulance for me,” Konrad yelled. “I’m fine.” The moon was almost full again, and he’d heal fast. Besides, he couldn’t afford an ambulance ride and hospital bill. He swiveled his head. “You okay, buddy?”

“My head hurts and feels like it’s about the size of Mount Rushmore.”

“There are four heads on Mount Rushmore.”

“Exactly.” He groaned.

Roz turned to the woman with the cell phone and whispered, “Don’t listen to my boyfriend. He’s in shock.”

She just nodded and walked a few steps away while she spoke to the dispatcher.

“I’m not in shock, Roz. I’m fine, really. One ambulance will do it.”

She looked startled.

Oh yeah. He wasn’t supposed to be able to hear her whisper from so far away. He’d have a hard time explaining that, unless…He sent a message to her telepathically.
You’re upset, darling. I know that. I can hear it and sense it. Please don’t worry. I’m all right. Really. The tree broke my fall.

“
And you broke your instructor’s fall, but he sounds like he’s badly hurt. You might not feel it right now because of the adrenaline, but you have to get checked out.
”
She crossed her arms and tried to look tough.
“
I mean it!
”

Unfortunately she only looked more adorable, and he couldn’t say no. He sighed deeply.
Okay. You win.

A hint of a smile curved her lips. “
I guess sky diving’s off the list.
”

You are so right.

***

His instructor was being kept overnight for observation, yet Konrad had broken his fall. The hospital reluctantly discharged her stubborn boyfriend, even after he had refused an MRI to check for internal bleeding. Roz had tried everything she could think of to reason with him and make him stay, but he just kept saying he was fine.

He sure as hell didn’t look fine. His denim jacket sleeves had been shredded, he was cut and bruised all over his face, and yet he wouldn’t let anyone lay a hand on him. He wouldn’t even let the doctor stitch the gash on the side of his temple. Once it stopped bleeding, and it seemed to stop quickly, a few butterfly bandages kept it from starting again. Roz hoped that was a good sign.

By the time they had been seen, processed, and spit out, it was evening. Konrad promised to go straight to bed.

She knew it was late, but to leave Konrad alone in his apartment was wrong. He was proud and stubborn, but she shouldn’t have left, even when he insisted. What if he was unaware of some kind of internal injury and died in his sleep? She’d never forgive herself.

She made a big pot of chicken soup and carried it carefully up the stairs. When she reached the landing, his door opened, and he stepped out of his apartment…naked!
What the?
There wasn’t a scratch on him. No blood, no bruises, no Band-Aids. He was as naked and perfect as the day he was born.

His gaze snapped in her direction. “Roz!”

“Konrad, why are you—? How did you—?” As she stammered, he stared at her as if
she
were the one standing there naked.

“I can explain,” he said.

She waited, but no explanation followed.

***

What the hell could he tell her? He was a fast-healing nudist? He wore a bruise suit earlier, but he took it off in favor of his birthday suit?

The full moon was approaching, and he could feel the urge to change. This fiasco couldn’t have happened at a worse time.

“Roz, can the explanation possibly wait until tomorrow?”

Her jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be out of your ever-loving mind! No, it can’t wait.”

Down below, Nathan exited his apartment with his bicycle. He froze when he saw Roz on the landing above. “Oh!” He looked quite surprised to see her, and then he spotted Konrad. “Shit.”

Now what?
Nathan was the one who let Konrad out on his way to work in the evening, and Sly let him in just before dawn. Konrad had tried stashing his clothes in the alley behind the Dumpsters, but a couple of times they were gone in the morning. Although rare, some thorough city worker probably made sure everything hit the dumpster. In that case he had to wait until he could shift back, knock on Sly’s window, because his keys had gone missing with his clothes, and traipse naked through the hallway and up the stairs.
Crap.

Quickly assessing his options, he realized there were only two things he could do. Get back into his apartment,
fast,
or change right in front of her.
Not
shifting into his wolf form during the full moon wasn’t an option. That decision had been made for him when he was bitten long ago.

He could feel his body vibrate, the first sign of an impending change. He fled into the relative safety of his apartment and hoped Roz wouldn’t follow and catch him in mid-shift. She’d be horrified. He had to leave the door unlocked and open a crack to get back out.

Could he manipulate the doorknob with his paws? Perhaps. But if he couldn’t, the wolf in him would likely panic and try to claw his way out. A wolf had to run.

Not this time. If she saw him change it would be more traumatizing than to think he had a pet wolf scratching and howling at the door, so he retreated and slammed the door.

***

Nathan, still gazing at the top of the stairs, said, “Uh-oh.”

Roz snapped her attention to him. “What the hell is going on?”

He shook his head and said, “Oh, boy.”

Roz set the pot of soup beside Konrad’s door and scurried back down the stairs for an “in your face” interrogation, which she’d occasionally done with the most tight-lipped criminals. “Nathan, you know something about this, don’t you?”

Nathan didn’t lose his cool. He cocked his head and answered, “I’m not known for my discretion, but in this case, I’m going to forget what I saw, and I suggest you do the same.”

“Forget what I saw?” Her voice rose. “Forget? How can I? I’m not just concerned about his coming out of his apartment stark naked. A few hours ago, he was badly bruised, cut, and bleeding. Now there’s not a mark on him. What the hell is that about?”

He shrugged. “What can I say? Some of us are fast healers.” He started to wheel his bicycle past her, but she grabbed his collar.

“Oh, no you don’t.”

He pried her fingers off and calmly said, “I’m afraid I can’t stay and chat. I’ll be late for work.”

A tiny bit of sanity returned. She couldn’t keep him there against his will. With a deep sigh, she stepped back and let him go. He opened the door, but stopped to fiddle with something on his bike.

Now, about Konrad.
She heard some type of faint grinding noise coming from upstairs and then a whimper.

She dashed back up the steps and tried his door. To her surprise, it opened. Sitting in front of her was a big dog. It looked like some kind of scruffy German shepherd, but the biggest one she’d ever seen. She’d have been afraid, except that with his tongue hanging out, he looked like he had a big goofy grin on his face.

“Huh? Who are you, boy?” Should she pat this strange dog or not? His eyes looked friendly, but his jaw appeared powerful enough to snap her arm like a twig.

The door across the hall opened, and Dottie came into view. “What’s all the racket out here?” she demanded.

Roz turned toward her and stammered, “Oh, I uh…” She was trying to think of what to say, when the big dog ran around her legs and bounded down the stairs.

Dottie threw her hands in the air. “Darn it. I told Konrad to get rid of that wolf months ago. What the heck is it doing back here?”

Nathan called up the stairs, “I’ll get rid of him, Mrs. F.” He opened the door, and the dog—or wolf or whatever—ran off. Nathan followed him out and let the door slam.

Puzzled, Roz turned back to Dottie. “Wolf? That was a wolf?”

Dottie didn’t answer. She marched across the hall and banged on the doorjamb, because the door was already open. “Konrad! Come out here.”

They waited. No answer.

Roz said, “Should I go in?”

Dottie raised her eyebrows, smiled, and said in a syrupy way, “I suppose you’d be welcome any time, since he’s your boyfriend. Go ahead. I’ll wait right here.”

Roz remembered that he was naked and said, “No need to wait. I’ll talk to him about his…um, pet. He’ll probably want to know it ran away.”

“Thank God,” Dottie mumbled.

To Roz’s relief, Dottie returned to her apartment and shut the door.

She crept in and called out, “Konrad?” Still no answer. What could he be doing? Was he hiding from her? The more she thought about his mysteriousness, the angrier she got. “Where the hell are you?”

She took a deep breath and marched to his bedroom. She threw open the door, half expecting to find him hiding under the covers. He wasn’t there, and his bed was made. Okay, he must be in the bathroom. The door was open, so she poked her head in. It was empty.