Forged in Ice (11 page)

“I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to be doing here. Can you come meet me? It would be easier to do this together. And no, that isn’t a sorry attempt to get you to see me again.”

“I can’t. I’m not in Charleston.” I felt powerless. The momentary confidence that had fueled me had disappeared.

“Then where are you?” His words were pointed and accusatory.

I thought it over. At least I had a city he’d heard of to mention. “The New Orleans area.”

“Why are you there?” He grunted. “You are involved in this, aren’t you? You think I’m an idiot?”

“I’m not involved. Where is Grace? She can’t have just disappeared.” This couldn’t have anything to do with me. The whole house was cleaned out. That was completely different. Right?

A loud throat clearing reminded me I was definitely not alone. “I’ll call you back.” I pocketed my phone not sure what to make of the news.

“The apartment was empty?” Hunter asked.

“Uh, how do you know?”

“I have good hearing.” He smiled.

“Oh… so you heard all of that?”

“Yes. Hope that wasn’t a friend of yours, because he was a real piece of work.”

“He is not her friend,” James answered for me. “What was that about an empty apartment?”

“She’s gone. So is her boyfriend. And all of their stuff. Brad says the entire apartment is empty.”

Hunter nodded. “Give me the details so I can hunt her down.”

“Um, yeah. I don’t want anyone hunting her down.”

He laughed. “I meant find her. I’m pretty good at finding people, especially the ones that don’t want to be found or who are hidden by those who don’t want to be. I have a friend who’s even better at it.”

“A friend?” I looked at the other wolves.

“Not them. Michelle. I can call her.”

James shook his head. “We didn’t come here to have you hunt someone down. We came for a way to defeat the darkness.”

“But she is concerned for her friend.”

“What do you mean the apartment is empty?” Rachel asked. “As in she moved out?”

“It makes no sense. She shares the place with her boyfriend, and now that I think about it his parents actually own it, so it’s not like they’d get evicted.”

Rachel scrunched up her face. “Okay, maybe there is a perfectly logical explanation. Bugs or something? They had to move out and get it exterminated? I’ve heard bed bugs are all over the city right now.” She cringed.

“But wouldn’t she have told me? Or Brad?” I wanted to believe Rachel’s explanation, but she was just trying to put me at ease.

“Maybe she tried but your phone was off and you didn’t get the message? And maybe she didn’t want to tell her cousin?” Rachel shrugged. “Sorry, that’s it for ideas.”

“I need to find out if her mom knows, but I have no clue how to contact her.” I knew Grace, but I didn’t know her family well.

“Don’t you think Brad should do that? It should be pretty easy for him,” James suggested.

“I guess that means I have to call him back.” I pulled out my phone and called a person I never thought I’d call so many times in one day.

M
y father’s
followers were involved in Grace’s disappearance. I was sure of it. I knew the second Brad confirmed our fears. Grace had not told her parents she was moving anywhere. And they had not heard from her in days. The same could be said for her boyfriend’s family.

“Do you think this is because of me?” Ainsley’s face was tight and stressed. “Is it possible it was something unrelated?” There was such hope in her voice. I wished to keep it there.

“Of course that is possible. People run away all the time, but the timing is highly suspicious.” It would have been far easier to push the blame off Ainsley, and at the same time myself, but that would not help anyone. Denial was dangerous. “There would be no reason to hurt her though. If they took her it would be to use her over you. She would have to be alive and well for that to work.”

“But why clean out the whole apartment?” Denny asked. “That’s the part bothering me.”

“Other than symbolism?” Talen held out his hand palm up. “There is something very potent about seeing a completely empty apartment. It leaves no possibility that the person will simply return.”

Rachel shivered. “Who are these people? These dark ones or whatever you call them?”

“People you never want to meet.” Henry put a hand on her shoulder. “Which is why we are here looking for help.”

“I will repeat my offer of assistance to find your missing friends.” Hunter looked between Ainsley and me. “I know more about finding missing people than I do about defeating darkness.”

“We will only accept the investigation help if you also agree to help us in our fight.” Talen puffed out his chest. “We did not travel this far to get help locating a girl.”

“I already told you I would try to help, but I don’t know how.” Hunter shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“Your friend seems to.” Talen turned to Denny. “You seem to know a lot.”

Denny shook his head. “I wouldn’t say I know a lot, but I am open to the possibility that we can be of assistance.”

“If we find Ainsley’s friend, we will find the bad guys, right?” Rachel asked. “So we need to do that while at the same time learn how to get rid of the darkness? That is if I’m following all this stuff.”

“True.” Talen nodded. “That is a surprisingly apt assessment.”

“Why is it surprising?”

“Because it comes from you.”

Rachel lunged for Talen but Henry jumped in the way. “Easy now. We have enough enemies to fight already.”

“He will treat you with respect.” Henry glowered at Talen.

Talen nodded. “Understood.”

“I am calling Michelle.” Hunter pulled out his phone. “Hey, yeah. In the mood to help me find someone? Can you meet me at the camp? Fine. See you then.” He smiled as if at a secret joke before returning his phone to his pocket. “She will be here tonight. She has some other business to attend to first.”

“What do we do until then?” I asked.

“Figure out how to defeat the darkness.” Henry said it simply. “Denny, are you ready to share what you know?”

“I don’t know how to defeat it. Our kind was hunted for years, so most of the older generation is gone.”

“Hunted?” Ainsley asked in alarm. “Why?”

“Politics.” Hunter shrugged. “Not anything you need to know about. We are good at what we do.”

“Politics?” Rachel raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware wolves dealt with politics.”

“We aren’t wolves.” Hunter cocked his head to the side.

“We saw you. You are a wolf. Trust me. I wouldn’t forget a detail like that.” Rachel wrapped her sweatshirt tighter around her. Henry moved closer to her.

Hunter looked at his friends before answering. “We’re Dires.”

“Meaning…” Rachel started.

“Related to the Dire Wolves?” Ainsley asked excitedly. “I did a report on them in elementary school. But they are extinct.”

“The non-shifter version is extinct.”

“Next you are going to tell us there are saber- tooth tiger shifters running around.” Rachel laughed.

“There are, but I would stay away from the Sabers. I’ve had enough bad experiences with them.” Hunter’s face darkened.

“Wait, that was a joke.” Rachel kicked the dirt with the toe of her black boot.

“I know what it was.” Hunter laughed.

“Ok, how about we continue this discussion while we get something to eat?” Denny suggested.

“Something to eat? What kind of food do you have here?” Rachel’s voice dripped in skepticism.

He smiled. “I wasn’t suggesting we eat here. You wouldn’t like what we eat, but there is a great little place a few miles down the road.”

“Are you hungry?” I asked Ainsley.

She nodded. “We haven’t eaten much. But we’re also short on time.”

“We have to talk anyway, might as well do it over food.” Denny shrugged. “Right?”

“He kind of has a point.” Henry looked to me for an answer.

“We can do it as long as it does not take too long.” I led Ainsley back toward the car.

“Eating lunch with a bunch of wolves,” Rachel mumbled under her breath while she got in the back seat.

I gently pulled the keys from Ainsley’s hand. “Want me to drive? I figure we have more to worry about than me driving without a valid license.”

“Absolutely.” She walked around toward the passenger side. I opened the door for her and waited for her to buckle before I closed the door.

I waited for Denny’s truck to pull around us before following them out toward the road.

We drove down the country road for a few miles, before the truck turned onto a two lane paved road. They pulled to a stop in a gravel parking lot outside a small building with a large neon red sign that said “Diner.” I parked next to the truck. Despite the more pressing matters on our hands, we needed to eat. Besides, you could often learn the most about and from people while sharing a meal, and we needed both from these wolves.

We walked inside the compact but comfortable restaurant. The walls were covered in photographs of smiling families. I wondered if they were stock photos or actual people. Before I could dwell on it for long, Hunter approached a desk at the front of the restaurant. He smiled broadly at a young waitress who showed us to a table. I slid into a chair next to Ainsley. Rachel and Henry were on our side of the table while Talen and the wolves sat across from us. It was nearly comical. The wolves versus the humans. Comical if we were not so concerned about everything else.

“They serve breakfast all day here. They supposedly make fantastic pancakes, but I usually stick to the steak.” Denny handed out the pile of menus that had been left in the center of the table.

“Do you only eat meat?” Rachel leaned forward.

“We prefer raw meat, but we’ve adapted,” Hunter explained.

“I’m going to try the banana pancakes.” Rachel closed her menu. “What are you getting, Ainsley?”

“A western omelet.”

“That’s what I’m getting.” I was surprised we were ordering the same thing. Maybe we had more similar tastes in food than I thought.

“Great minds think alike.” Ainsley smiled.

“And great tastes.”

Talen groaned. “You two disgust me.”

Hunter narrowed his eyes. “Why does that bother you? They are happy together. There are worse things.”

“James has lost himself.”

“Lost himself how?” Marni asked.

“Lost himself in her.” Talen pointed at Ainsley.

“You have some serious anti-girl thing going on with you.” Marni rocked back in her chair. “It’s not going to fly here.”

“I have nothing against women. I have something against warriors taking mates. It weakens them.”

“And James is a warrior?” Marni assessed me with her eyes.

“Of the strongest kind.” Talen sounded almost complimentary.

“And you think Ainsley weakens him?” Denny asked.

“She only strengthens me.” I was a stronger and better man because of her.

“You are a changed man.” Talen scowled.

“Maybe he is changed for the better.” Hunter rested an elbow on the table. “Even if you cannot see it.”

The same waitress came over and took our orders. As soon as she walked away, Denny continued the conversation as if it had never fallen off. “I agree. Sometimes what we see as bad is actually good.”

“So the wolves who own a dive bar are also eternal optimist philosophers.” Rachel nodded. “Good to know.”

“Why are you really involved with them?” Denny leaned over the table toward Rachel. “I don’t buy your story.”

“Henry is an old friend, and he is unexpectedly back in my life.”

“Friend?” Denny narrowed his eyes. “That’s not the word you were looking for.”

“We were involved in high school. That was ages ago, so yes. He is a friend.”

“Why does that matter?” Henry asked. “Why does it matter why she is with us?”

“Because details matter.” Denny pulled a flask out of his pocket. “They really matter.”

“Is that alcohol?” Ainsley asked.

“Yes.” Denny watched her with an amused expression on his face.

“And you’re drinking it in here?” She lowered her voice to a near whisper.

“No need to whisper. No one cares.”

“Ok, Mr. ‘details matter’, why do you feel the need to drink in the middle of the day?” Rachel leaned back in her chair with a satisfied look on her face.

“Because I enjoy it.”

“It’s more than that.” Rachel crossed her arms.

“It isn’t.”

“It is.”

“Ok, enough.” We had too much to worry about to waste another minute on a ridiculous argument. “We are here to eat and discuss how we can defeat our enemy. Otherwise we might as well go home and find another solution.”

“What other solution do you suggest?” Talen challenged.

“Anything that moves us in the right direction.”

Ainsley shifted her chair closer to mine, and I wondered how she was doing. I was going to have to get her alone again soon.

“Marni, do you remember the stories Mom used to tell?” Denny turned to her.

“Which ones?”

“Wait, are you guys brother and sister?” I looked between the two.

“Not by choice.” Denny grinned.

“Very funny.” Marni nudged her elbow into his ribs.

He pushed her back. “In all seriousness, yes. We’re siblings. But most people don’t believe it.”

“Because you look nothing alike?”

“Or act anything alike.” Marni moved away from him.

“And evidently you have different memories from childhood.” James laughed.

“We didn’t have much of a childhood.” Marn’s face darkened.

“I know the feeling.” James got serious. “But what stories were you asking about?”

“I’m guessing he means the ones about the black plague.” Marni wrinkled her nose.

“Yes. Do you remember those?” Denny asked her.

“I tended to tune those out.” Marni put an elbow on the table. “They were too depressing.”

“The black plague?” I asked intrigued.

“My mother was the historian in our pact. Her mother was before. And hers before. And you get the picture.”

I nodded, waiting for him to continue.

“She used to tell this story about a sickness, a plague that turned once good people to evil. Those who were not turned by the plague were usually killed by those who were.”

“That’s horrible.” Ainsley put a hand to her chest.

“My mom told it as a morality story. A lesson. About how you have to have a truly pure heart to avoid the effects of evil. That make sense?” He looked at Ainsley.

She nodded.

“Did she say if there was a cure? A way to get rid of the plague?” I asked.

“Not really.” He shook his head. “It was more about prevention. About keeping the black plague from your people. She talked about how entire populations were destroyed when it was let in. I remember checking the locks on the door a bunch every time she told the story.”

“It was a story.” Marni bristled. “Don’t sell it as anything else.”

“Don’t write off the power of a historian just because we no longer have one, it is—” Hunter stopped when the waitress came over to bring us out beverages.

When she walked away he continued. “Your mother was wiser than you knew.”

“Do you remember anything else?” I had never heard of the darkness described as a plague, but maybe that was the key. Maybe it did spread in some sort of way. That could be the key to figuring out how to stop it.

“She told us in detail what those affected by the plague looked like, but that is not something I want to talk about until after we eat. Nor do I want to discuss the walking corpses. Both are appetite killers.”

“I’ll agree with that.” Rachel put her napkin on her lap. “How about we move on to a lighter conversation?”