Bunching my body together I got ready to attack. A thought flitted through my mind, and I stopped, relaxing as I realized how silly I was being. Why didn’t I think of this before? I was human. A human woman dressed like a hiker. I knew men found me attractive, and my features gave me the impression of someone quite weak even if I was quite tall.
I dropped back onto my stomach and flipped around. I kicked off a shoe and buried my hands in my hair to fluff it up so it looked wild and windswept. My face always looked pale and bloodless, so I held my breath to turn it red as I unbuttoned my trousers, and pushed them half down my hips. I unzipped my coat and ripped a few buttons off to scatter them in the snow. I bit down hard on my own lip and let the blood trickle down my chin. The moment the first booted foot stepped into view I lay my head down and opened my eyes wide. My muscles were locked so tight it was easy to jerk them in a decent imitation of a tremble, and I clutched at the edges of my coat when the man and his gun trained on me.
“The girl is still here,” he shouted.
“Help me,” I sobbed. “A monster was trying to … to … he was … I thought he would kill me!” My sobs turned into a wail and I curled up on my side.
He hesitated, not sure if he should shoot me or comfort me. My heart thundered in my chest and I kept up the trembles and gusty sobs to rub it in that I was hurt and terrified. Still when he remained undecided I had to stifle a huff of impatience. I guess I could understand how it would be a little confusing. He had just been trying to blow my head off. After a beat he pointed the barrel of the weapon away and signaled to his comrade.
He pulled off his balaclava and I stared. Despite his stocky build he was young, barely sixteen with ruddy cheeks, big earlobes and bum fluff for a beard. No wonder he had hesitated, he was just a boy.
“Easy now come on, miss, don’t cry,” he said in a surprisingly high voice.
Scrambling up I launched myself at him and burst into tears. I buried my face into his neck and breathed in huge shuddering breaths. Oh, but he smelt tasty. I snuggled closer. He mistook my actions as a female need for comforting after a horrific attack and patted my head gently.
“All right, miss. You’re safe now. He’s gone and we’re after him.”
I leaned away and stared up at him. My bottom lip trembled. “What … what was that thing. That monster.” I sounded suitably horrified and I rewarded myself with a mental high-five.
“You don’t want to know, miss. I have enough nightmares. And to think if we hadn’t of come along he would have raped you and then eaten–” he cut off and sent me an apologetic look.
I clutched my jacket tighter and shortened my neck so I seemed to shrink in terror. “He would have eaten me,” I whispered and my on cue my eyes watered again. “You saved my life.”
He blushed faintly. “Aw, it was nothing.”
I felt a small dart of regret for misleading him so shamefacedly. He was actually kind of cute and chivalrous. Had I not been hung up on that block headed Luke I would have probably tried my luck with this one. He felt like kindred to me.
I asked in a hushed whisper, “Are you here to … to … hunt it down?”
“Yes. So don’t you worry.”
“Thank goodness.” I pursed my lips thoughtfully thinking up my next words carefully. “Maybe I should call the mountain rangers? They should probably know what happened.”
“No!” he squeaked loudly.
I jumped a mile and my hand flew to my mouth as if in shock. Hm. They didn’t want the authorities to know they were up here. Interesting. If they went missing….
Flushed he shook his head and in a more controlled voice said, “No, it’s fine.”
“But … they could help you track it down. Don’t you government types all work together?”
The other – still masked man looked at the young one – did a fast hand signal then paced away raising his gun again. As he walked away the falcon I had seen before landed on his shoulder.
The young man placed a calming hand on my elbow and I clutched his other hand and gave another little tremble.
“You really should take all the help you can get. What if the monster gets you?” I asked tearfully.
“We’re trained to deal with this, don’t you worry about us. Now can you tell me where your campsite is? Is it far?”
The best lies are ones heavily shrouded by truths. I was tempted to tell him I had been backpacking with a partner, but then they might look for remains, and there were no remains to be found, nor a trail to back up my story.
I shook my head. “I’m one of the few that lives on this mountain. My Da lives three miles downriver. That’s where I was coming from when the beast attacked me.” This was good. It would explain my footsteps to this point. “Maybe I should backtrack?”
I looked over his shoulder in the direction Luke had run in with a hopeful expression. My trap was laid. Naturally he would report my Da’s cabin back and they would go check it out. They would expect Luke to look for food since they had interrupted him, and a place to hide. Luke would manage to give them the slip again, and they would look in the next logical place. My Da would give them the run around as he always did when the authorities came knocking with descriptions of blue monsters and missing persons, and they would assume Luke had moved on again.
The boy looked panicked. “No. You shouldn’t go that way. Carry on home, miss.”
I let him go slowly, with false reluctance. “Well, if you’re sure it’s safe.” I blinked a few times owlishly. “Hey, do you think you guys could take me home… ?”
He blinked. “Bobby. Bobby Cartwright.” It was said hesitantly as if he was not used to people asking his name.
I smiled at him and it was genuine. He beamed back and I noted he had a gap between his two front teeth. How cute. “Evangeline. So could you, Bobby? Could you take me home?”
He looked like he wanted to say yes and he opened his mouth. From the corner of my eye I saw his superior spin round and wave his hands madly, shaking his head.
I grabbed his hand again and smiled tremulously. “It would be so nice to have an escort of such heroic and strong men to accompany me home.”
I clung to him leaning all my weight and let all my limbs drag heavily as if I was feeble. I may have been laying it on a bit thick but I hadn’t had this much fun in years.
“Ah, sorry, but no. We really must push on. I’m sure you will be fine if you just follow your usual path home.”
I breathed in deeply and my lip quivered before I gave him a confident look to show how wonderfully brave I was being. “Alright. I understand.” Stepping away I waved at the other masked man jovially then back at Bobby. “Thank you again. And good luck.”
I gave the woods around me a long frightened look then started up towards my cabin at a brisk pace, finally letting an evil grin stretch across my face. Once I was over this hillock I would pick up the pace then travel in a wide arc and follow after Luke.
That couldn’t have been more perfect.
Luke
It couldn’t have been more fucked up. Clinging to the tree branch like a moron I kept my body rigid as the two men passed down below then stopped at the edge of the cliff.
“The tracks stop here. You think he jumped off?”
They both leaned over then looked at each other. Easing back they scratched their heads.
“That’s got to be an eighty foot drop, right there,” one said after a baffled pause. “From three meters a fall becomes fatal. If you fall and fracture your spine cutting off the blood flow to your heart you’re finished. Unless you get lucky and land on your side or reach terminal velocity … but the fall isn’t high enough for that. No, no man could walk away from that fall.”
The other one spat and thumbed his nose. “But he’s not a man. He’s a beast. He just looks human right now.”
The one with half a brain sighed. “You want to abseil down to check it out, or head back and meet up with the others to use the snowmobiles?”
“We need to at least try and pick up the trail again. We’ll make it fast. It’ll only take five minutes to set up, fifteen to climb down, and another ten to scout around. An hour before we’re back up here max. At least then we can tell Cartwright we tried everything we could.”
“Alright.”
The men went about setting up their gear and I gritted my teeth. My muscles screamed at me to let go, but if I did I risked these assholes calling to their comrades, and that would be bad. Yes, Evangeline should have made it home by now and would be out of harm’s way, but still I didn’t want to risk it. I didn’t hear a commotion behind me after I’d led them away so I could only hope she didn’t do anything foolish.
Women often did foolish things. Let themselves be ruled by their hormones. It was worse with Wendiga’s as often their strength allowed them to get out of patchy scrapes by the skin of their teeth making them even more reckless the next time round. They always thought they were so clever until their own cleverness turned round to bite them in the ass.
I took a pleasant interlude of imagining myself nibbling on Evangeline’s ass. I added it to my to-do-list.
The soft grunting and creak of a taught rope turned my attention back to the two men. They had dug their pickaxes securely into the rock and fastened harnesses and buckles to it so they could trek down the side of the mountain.
I let my hands loosen their hold and flipped over to land softly on the powdered snow. The impact jarred my knees, but I’d experienced worse and shook it off, straightening.
Walking over to the axes buried in the ice I pondered what I should do. I was a hunter, a predator, not a murderer. I killed man to survive not for recreation. But I couldn’t let them come back up and see I’d been here. They’d follow me back to her. Scrubbing a hand over my head then smoothing my shag of hair back I let my hands cover my face before rubbing my chin in irritation. All of this bullshit did little else but prove I had little choice when it came to whether I stayed or left. I had to leave. Evangeline was in danger the longer I stayed. The more distance I put between us the better. No doubt the minx would be happy to see the back of me. Blowing out a short breath I hung my head. I had to be honest with myself. I was running out of places to hide. Cartwright would never give up. Not until I was dead or he was. Hunting him never worked, I could never get close enough.
I couldn’t go back to Canada or venture anywhere else in the States without risking bumping into a Wendigo who would have no choice but to engage in battle to try and kill me on sight. It was the way of things and I didn’t want some young boy to lose his life for nothing try to appease a bunch of stuffy old men who called themselves ‘Elders’.
Passing through Europe again would be dumb, and I had no desire to go stomping across Russia. That left Africa and damn, was it hot over there. The sun was relentless. I’d die, simple. The heat would be too much for my body to handle, and calling storms to such a parched land would be like waving a red flag at a raging bull.
I was back at square one. Should I just stay here? Try to kill Cartwright again and hope for the best? How would I keep Evangeline safe? I could see though she tried to act disinterested that she was concerned for my welfare and would want to help. Hell, even if it just meant getting these bastards off her mountain she would help.
I placed my boot on one of the axes to get my aim right then pulled my foot back. Murder, such an ugly thing. All the reasons why I should do it came to mind and I started to sweat, uncomfortable with the internal struggle inside me.
A small boot sailed past mine and crashed into the axe, jolting it out of the snow. Shock was replaced with horror then more shock. The rope went lax and it plummeted off the cliff face and a man’s scream cut through the forest and ended with a loud thump. There was a loud cursing and the second rope started to shake wildly. Evangeline moved to the side and swung her other foot back.
I grabbed her arm and she paused. “What are you doing?” I hissed my eyes roving the trees to make sure no one heard the screams.
“The others are on their way to my Da’s cabin. They’ll be too far away and deep into the woods to hear.” Her foot cranked back again. “We don’t have a choice.”
I shook her. “You don’t have to do this for me.”
She pinned me with a look that bordered on desperate. “I already have.” Her foot swung forward and the axe flipped out of the snow and disappeared over the ledge. There was no scream this time. “For the love of… .” She skipped to the ledge to look over and jerked back when a gunshot cracked the air. She made a sound of frustration. “Since you decided to wage an internal monologue that could give War and Peace a run for its money he made it to the bottom.”
I peeked over the ledge to see the black figure sprinting across the flat and white expanse of snow. About two miles ahead the forest started again.
“He’ll follow the edge of the river to keep him in a straight line. It’ll take him twenty minutes in a flat run to reach those trees for cover.” She was already turning her back to the ledge. “By then he’ll be exhausted from the cold and the physical exertion. It’ll take him at least three hours to double back and pick up the path to my Da’s cabin, or four if he’s going to their base camp.”
I tilted my head at her. “How do you know where the base camp is?”
She gave me a cool look. “These are my mountains.”
“Cute. How do you know?”
She rolled her eyes. “They have snowmobiles, heavy equipment and they know this area is prone to sudden and violent storms. They would need somewhere enclosed, easily accessible yet easy to defend. There is a half-mile wide alcove in the Southern pass that is secluded but would fulfill all these things. Your guys seem to know what they’re about so logically they must have set up camp there.”
“You seem awfully sure.”
She shrugged. “I’m never wrong. Now are you going to keep yammering on or are we going to climb down and catch this guy?”
I leaned over the cliff again and blanched, this time unable to slickly hide the wave of vertigo that threatened to pull my under and make me black out.
“Fuck him,” I said casually.
She stared at me. “Climb down the cliff.”
I swallowed. “Why don’t we just–”
She cocked her head and a slow, evil smile tugged the edges of that gorgeous mouth up. “You’re afraid of heights, aren’t you?”
I winced. “Afraid is a strong word. Let’s try adverse to or wary of… ”
“Heaven help me. Is that why you didn’t head back to the caves? Do you want to try closing your eyes and jumping it?”
I eyeballed her. “It’s an eighty foot drop and we are in human form. Admittedly my life is drawing to an end but I had hoped my death would be somewhat more honorable than going splat on a sheet of ice.”
Her shoulders jerked again. “I managed a similar fall mid shift when I was fifteen. We might survive it as humans though I’d rather not try. But if you can’t manage the decent–”
I grabbed her and brought my mouth down on hers to shut her up. The woman drove me mad. I pushed my tongue into her mouth and lapped up the sharp and crisp taste of her. My hand wound into her silky hair until my fingers found her scalp and I massaged it gently.
She groaned and pushed herself into me. Her hands gripped the pleated fabric of the kilt into bunches and tugged roughly.
Mindless, I grabbed her ass and hauled her up so she could lock her legs around my waist and grind herself onto me. She liked it like this and that turned me on. I broke away from her mouth to graze my teeth against the hollow of her neck and licked her pulse point. She bucked and I stepped forward to accommodate of the shift in weight but my foot dangled in the air.
Evangeline squealed and tried to throw herself forward but she had nothing to grab for or hold onto. Her white-blonde billowed around us as we shunted forward and went from being horizontal to vertical.
All I saw was a blanket of white as we pitched over, head first off the cliff edge.