Chapter 38
25 0 1
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

 With the assuring knowledge that Mary Peters was still behind bars, the three slept peacefully that night. In the morning, they went to the police station, where a group of agents were already waiting.

Andrew unlocked the door and something tried to squeeze itself through the door, pushing at him. But, he caught a handful of fabric and held firm. Finally, Mary gave up and her hands were cuffed again, and she was given a pill to swallow.

The agents took Mary into a van and placed silver chains around her. She looked pained at that and was glaring at Andrew the whole time.

“Soup,” she said cryptically, and Andrew resisted the urge to poke out his tongue. He looked at Erin and Daphne, self-satisfaction written all over his face.

“I dare say I did good,” he boasted as the van drove off.

“Your first case done mostly by yourself,” Daphne patted Andrew on the back and Erin embraced him.

“Andrew, there is something important that I need to ask you,” he said, hand going in his jacket pocket.

“Not now, Erin. We need to get to the caves,” and Andrew marched with a sure step to the car, where Hank was waiting.

“Fangs, just get on one knee and show him the ring,” suggested Daphne. Erin nodded. Yes, next time, when they found a picturesque meadow or waterfall or a river, he would do so.

They drove to the entrance to the national park and then got their hiking gear out of the trunk. Each of them had a backpack with a blanket, spare clothes, food, blood in Erin’s case, first aid kits and campfire making tools. They were as ready as they could be. Apart from that, they each had a hunting ruffle and their hunting knives.

There was no telling if the hag had worked alone. Maybe there was something in the caves. They had found some suspicious places in the park that could have served as a shelter too, but, they got the task to only search in the caves.

Hawk had told them that their job was done, and the Grimoire was an extra task. It was dangerous to live it lying around. So, they needed to get it. Erin had scried the area for magical artifacts and had gotten something like a ping that was a kilometer wide. He could easily find the area again, once they neared it.

The first day, they had good cheer. They made quick pace, being urged on by Hank, who marched before them. Still, they had joked around. The second, as they neared the caves, the surrounding forest grew silent and that made them quiet down.

The possibility that the hag had not been alone was growing larger by the second. On the third day, they were before the caves. They picked one to go in and sprayed the entrances of the rest with the silver spray. If there was a creepy crawly inside one of them, they were not getting out.

Andrew held his flashlight, so it could light his feet. The cave’s floor was slippery, and it was freezing inside. Hank was looking around in worry.

“I can smell something not human in here,” said the werewolf, and the three stood to attention. Hank took his ruffle off his backpack and loaded it. The three followed his lead. “Best if we keep quiet for now. Something tells me that the thing knows we are here. But, if it does not, then we can’t ruin the element of surprise.”

They grew deadly silent as they walked. A bat flew over their heads, spooked by them, and they saw something curled in a ball on the far side of the cave. Its yellow eyes were staring at them. Andrew recognized those eyes. Adam Hawk had the same.

Hank cursed and aimed his ruffle. Then, he shot. The thing was moving quickly, too quickly to be natural, and it took Hank by the throat. It used the werewolf as a shield and began to back away.

“Sir, we are just here for the Grimoire,” said Andrew, trying to reason with the wendigo. “If you would just change back.”

“If you would just change back,” repeated the creature, and Andrew’s eyebrows rose. Was this an ancient being? So, old it had grown senile? There won’t be any reasoning with it, then. No capturing it alive. Its instincts were ruling it. Still, it was smart enough to use Hank to cover its vital regions.

“Shoot! I’ll be fine,” raped Hank. Andrew looked down at his ruffle. A single bullet could tear through Hank and into the beast. Would Hank really be fine? He heard a ruffle being loaded, and he looked at Daphne, who was pointing at the wendigo’s head.

“Daphne, no!” Screamed Andrew and Erin at the same time, but she pulled the trigger. The wendigo must not have expected it because it didn’t rise Hank to cover its head. Hank was dropped as the wendigo went in a fatal position.

Daphne aimed her ruffle again.

“You boys are too soft. It will get us all killed. Come on, a wendigo doesn’t get downed by a single shot. We aim to kill it, not capture it.” Andrew looked at the fallen beast. A good chunk of its head was missing, but one of its yellow eyes was pleading with Andrew.

Still, he aimed the ruffle. Not at the eye, but at the heart. The three began shooting, turning the beast into mincemeat in a minute. Hank joined them, at some point. When the wendigo stopped twitching, the three relaxed.

“Well, that is another five thousand each,” said Hank. Andrew looked at him incredulously.

“We just killed someone,” he said, and Hank rolled his eyes at Andrew.

“Someone that would have killed me. Now, search the cave for the Grimoire,” commanded the werewolf. The three went to the corner where the wendigo had been curled up at. They heard hacking noises from behind and pointedly didn’t turn back.

There was junk on the ground. Clothes, which would fit a child, a jewelry box that had finger bones in it. And, finally, a book bound in human skin. Andrew picked it up. It was calling to him. He opened it, only to have it snap shut and for Hank to glare at him.

“No witchcraft, boy. You don’t want to go down that rabbit hole. I’ll keep this,” Hank placed the book in his backpack, but Andrew’s eyes followed it all the while.   

1