CHAPTER 46

It was well after one o'clock when we finally reached the edge of Newcomb, and Bobby was right, there was nothing there. At least nothing of interest that would draw deliveries from Defence Medical. It was mostly just houses that sat along the highway.

I wasn't stupid enough to drive up to the location my new friend had pinned for me, which was down a gravel drive that led into the thick wilderness that surrounded the town. Instead I had bobby pull over well down the highway before getting out.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked me, studying the expanse of forest that crowded the highway.

I didn't answer, my wolf was busy sending her senses out back toward the pinned location. We focused on Darius, and found his scent almost immediately. Blood too, and bile. My heart gave an angry thud against my ribs. I couldn't get the picture of his broken body out of my head.

There was nothing else near him though. A wooden structure that gave off a strong smell of mildew and rodent, the kind of smell old buildings got when they'd been abandoned for a good long while. But nothing else, no wolf, and not a single hint of vampire, which had been my biggest concern.

Suddenly I knew who my new friend was.

The werejaguar.

"Stay here," I told Bobby, "if I live I'm going to need a fast ride back to Boston."

"*If* you...Raven, what the fuck are you talking about?"

"I'm going in there to save a man who's been fucked up pretty bad. There's a werejaguar who I'm going to try to kill. If I succeed I'll be back as quickly as I can."

Bobby looked at me, and it might have been the first time he did so without guile.

"And if you don't?"

"Then get out, drive and don't look back. You'll know when."

Then I slipped into the forest my feet silent beneath me as we walked toward the smell of Darius. I thought back to the attack at the river, how we hadn't scented or heard the jaguar before he'd been on us. He had been at least as fast as we were, perhaps faster, and somehow was able to partially transform. He also had shot with a gun loaded with the wolf killer bullets, which made my hip ache just thinking about it.

We had learned from the last encounter though, and watched the trees above us as carefully as we watched the ground in front of us.

It turned out we didn't need to be so cautious, however, because the werejaguar was not hiding from us. He sat on a wooden stool in front of a partially burned out two story house that looked like it might have belonged to the past century.

In human form he was smaller than I remembered, five-five at the most, his form lithe rather than the bulk of the wolves I was used to. He had dark hair and deeply brown skin, with some very strong hints toward the facial features of southern ancient indigenous tribes. He didn't see me at first, or sense me, not with my wolf in stealth mode, and I watched him cautiously as he was bent over a long knife, carefully, meticulously sharpening it against a wet stone. Behind him, arms tied above his head, skin flayed, but not as bad as the smuggler from the naval yard, was Darius. I flinched with the full sight of him. He'd been beaten, most of his skin was purple of blue with it, and even from a distance I could see he had fractures in his legs and ribs. It looked like he'd been injured just enough that his body would continue to keep him alive...barely. Even my wolf cringed in sympathy.

Perhaps I made a noise of distress because the man was looking up from his task, his cat-eyes focused on me.

I didn't make a move to hide from him. He was sitting in the open, waiting, when he could have tried to get the drop on me. He wanted something.

"You are very good," he nodded, setting his knife down. But not before I noticed the blood stains along the blade. "I didn't think there were any more of us, especially since I killed the badger, but here you are."

I didn't know what he was talking about, but his head was tilted and he was studying me like some sort of specimen in a museum. Whatever. I glanced at Darius, trying to figure out how I was going to get to him.

"You've obviously learned to cloak very well. Tell me, has your beast learned to mark her territory? It takes several days to have any effect, but the results are always worth it." He watched me as he stalked toward me, I found myself turning so that he wouldn't be at my back. He gave me a sad smile. "No, I can see that you haven't. Pity, it's so very useful." He threw up his hands, and I rolled, unsure of what he was doing but sensing an attack.

The ground rumbled beneath me and a moment later vines and ropes...no, roots, I realized, shot up from beneath the earth arcing over me. I scrambled to avoid them only to realize that they'd wrapped my legs. Another gesture from the werejaguar and they pulled, dragging me along the dirt and leaves, the rest of the roots flattening down onto me until I was bound in a heavy root net, unable to move. My face was squashed to the ground but he came around where I could see him. He took the time to run a hand along my thigh where the roots left it exposed. I struggled but even with my new strength I couldn't budge my constraints.

"He will be very interested to know that one of us has been wandering around loose in the world, sister. And how, exactly did you manage that, I wonder? An escape? But that must have been years ago, they don't make them like us anymore..."

Something about what he was saying echoed a feeling of dread that was growing inside of me. A feeling that, above everything I'd been through, *this* was the worst thing that could happen to me.

"You know, when their inside bitch gave me the location of your pack's 'full moon run'," he rolled his eyes and sarcastically used his fingers to emphasize the phrase, which he obviously thought was stupid, "I knew I'd get whoever had helped to waylay our shipment of weapons. I didn't expect* you*. And I once I found you, I knew I had to have you, bring you back to him. A prodigal daughter, really. How do you think he'll reward me?"
His fingers crept upward, toward my crotch. I snarled, my wolf at the surface, a warning.

"Impressive," he hummed, unconcerned.

"Who the fuck are you talking about," I ground into the dirt. A distraction, anything to keep him talking—and not touching—until I could figure out how to get out of this mess.

His fingers *did* stop their trailing, because I apparently caught him by surprise.

He paused and then a chuckle rose in his chest. "You don't know?" The chuckle became a deep, hearty laugh. "You have no idea what you are, do you?"

He bent close to my face and I growled, snapping my teeth at him.

"Oh, sister. You have so many lessons ahead of you. So many. As to *who*. Well that would be our creator...our* father*. Dr. Thostchild."