Chapter Ten
"We have a problem."
V was on speaker for everyone in the room to hear. It was close to Last Meal that everyone was heading to the dining room when Nightmahre picked up his phone. He spoke hastily before putting the phone on speaker. When he did, V said those four words and all heads turned to the phone. However, Mehrcy was standing outside the room. He leaned against the doorframe and listened to the call.
Things were tense all around that he couldn't handle the looks his sons were giving him. He missed many things with his family. Mehrcy never knew Ehnvy and Phride were mated and had shellans of their own. He didn't know Rhoslyn had died and Nightmahre found another mate. Gabrielle Seeing Bird gave off the presence of a warrior bred for battle and if she wasn't heavy with child Mehrcy believed she would be in the field with her hellren. Mehrcy had two daughter-in-laws, was a grandfather and was expecting another grandchild. He had never felt so detached from his family that it pained him.
Burying his pain, he tried to listen to the conversation. But when V was about to explain the problem, Tohr walked up to him and gestured for him to come in. Once Mehrcy was present, Wrath gave V the okay to continue.
"Sohrrow and I were called by Sam to check out something and when we left Iron Mask, we found a group of lessers."
"And how is that a problem?" spoke Rhage.
"Does their organs and throats ripped clean out of their body count?"
Mehrcy was first to act. Already cleared to go back out in the field, he dematerialized before the others had a chance. His first instinct told him it was Ahnger. But he knew his son. Mehrcy knew Ahnger wouldn't leave lessers lying around for humans to find.
Over their years of countless fights, Ahnger would sometimes find the enemy and place himself in the middle of a battle. It was his way in provoking the lessers to attack. But when he was done, he would always take something and stake the enemy in the chest for them to return to the Omega. With all the darkness inside him, Ahnger still cleaned up his mess so no one would find the bodies.
Quickly rolling out the attack being from his son, Mehrcy appeared in the alley where Vishous and Sohrrow were in. A few seconds later, Tohrment showed up behind him with Rhage, Zsadist, Phury, John, Qhuinn, Blaylock, Nightmahre, Ehnvy and Phride right behind him. The human squatting by the bodies had to be Sam. Mehrcy was slightly surprised to see a human at the scene. Then again, the way how his eyes were studying the bodies and how calm his breathing was told the male the human was a warrior and had seen battle. The dog tags on the silver chain just like Gabrielle's dangled around his neck.
V waved at the males to walk up. But they could see the carnage from where they stood. There had to be at least six lessers in the alley. Four of them looked up at the sky with frozen wide eyes and screaming mouths. One had its back against a wall with its head drooped over its shoulder. The last one lay on its stomach with the same terrified looks of its fellow companions. Besides the looks on their faces, black blood poured out of their bodies that black pools seeped around their bodies. Just like what V had said, every single lesser had their throats ripped out. Huge holes showed where their stomachs and chests were supposed to be that everyone could see the ribs poke straight out like something ripped through the flesh. The lesser on its stomach had a huge hole ripped across his back for parks of his back bone to poke through. As for the one slumped over against the wall, his entire chest had been ripped open that everything from inside laid on his lap.
"What the hell?" gasped Rhage.
Still squatting next to a body, Sam took a broken bottle glass and tilted a head to the side. The movement revealed more of the neck. It was there were the edges of the wound could be closer inspected. "You guys don't mind for what I'm about to say sounds too cliché?" he asked. Everyone shook their heads. "Well, I think this was an animal attack."
"Okay. That does sound cliché," spoke V.
"Seriously. These wounds looked like something sunk their teeth in them and ripped clean out. And the attack on their bodies, tell me they don't look like claw marks?"
As if to prove his point, V squatted next to Sam and turned his head. He turned his head again. Turning his head for the third time, he stood up and shoved his fists in his pocket. "Damn. You're right. Didn't see this one coming."
"I so have to see this."
Qhuinn shoved past the others to get a better look. He wasn't the only one to follow. The others crowded over the bodies except for Mehrcy. He stayed in the back and waited for the others to finish observing the very dead lessers."
"What kind of animal would do this?"
"Wolf."
Mehrcy leaned back against a wall when he spoke. It only took one glance for him to know what kind of animal did this. The teeth and claw marks were identical to a wolf's. What struck him odd was that all the marks belonged to one wolf. One animal killed six lessers like it was nothing. And the bodies weren't the only thing Mehrcy had noticed.
"What makes you say wolf?" Nightmahre questioned.
Mehrcy pointed to one of the bodies. "The bite marks on the neck were instant kills. The reason why they're ripped to shreds is because the wolf kept thrashing its head around. As for the claw marks, they're wide and thick to cut through flesh. Whatever happened here, it wasn't here." Mehrcy then pointed to their shoes. "The wolf chased them. It chased the lessers like it was a game and toyed with them until it killed them."
For a while, no one moved. Then Phride checked his father's claimed and cursed when he found everything matching to what he said. There were hidden bite and claw marks all over the lessers like something was playing with them. Their shows were covered in mud and dirt like they had been running for their lives until it was too late. The wolf had its fun and finished its game by slaughtering the lessers.
"But why would a pack of wolves do this? And since when are their wolves in Caldwell?"
"Wolf. Not wolves. This was all made by one animal. And I don't know why."
"First your sons and now a wild wolf," muttered Tohr. He looked at the ground for a second before narrowing his eyes. Taking a few steps to the body against the wall, he went down on one knee and touched the ground. "You have got to be fucking kidding me."
"What?" called Phury.
"This is a footprint."
Even Mehrcy couldn't resist it. He joined the males who crowded Tohrment. Right under Tohr's fingers was half a footprint made out in black blood. Mehrcy backed up and surveyed the scene. He had been so stupid. He had assumed that the attack had been from a wolf because everything pointed to the animal. But there wasn't a single wolf print. Instead, there were human footprints everywhere. They were too small to be any of the lessers and too slender to be a man's. Whoever killed the lessers was a woman.
The dreams and vision came back. This attack had to do with the woman Mehrcy saw in the vision. She was the same one he saw in the bayou dream and had to be the same one who did this. And if she was real and he wasn't losing his mind, Mehrcy had to find her fast.
Leaving the group and kneeling by his own find, Mehrcy placed a gentle hand on the print. He quickly recoiled when something shot through his hand. Something dark and wild came from the print that Mehrcy felt something inside him react. He knew this darkness. He had felt it so long ago that it had to be impossible.
It was the same darkness he had felt in Rihgor.
Holding his shaking hand, he placed his hand back on the print and the same pain shot through him. This time, the darkness stuck him so hard that he threw out his hands to hold himself up. Knowing that this print belonged to a woman, the darkness inside her was so strong that it probably had control over her. And the fact that it felt like Rihgor's darkness meant she carried it. This woman had Mehrcy's brother's darkness inside her.
Mehrcy cringed as the darkness continued to ride over him. Closing his eyes, he saw the black wolf snap its jaws at him. Something inside the male told him to fight back. Watching the wolf growl a dominate growl, a strange presence ordered Mehrcy to fight back. With his eyes still closed, he raised his lips to a snarl and growled at the wolf. He surprised himself when it sounded exactly like a wolf's growl.
However, the black wolf responded. It stopped its growling and stared at him. Sensing it had stopped, Mehrcy opened his eyes and found himself back in the bayou. The black wolf still held its dominate position but had stopped growling. Still growling back, Mehrcy stepped forward and felt the soft ground under his paw. Just like the dream, he was a white wolf. But he bared his fangs at the black wolf and continued to growl.
The black wolf tilted its head in a sad way. Closing its eyes, the wolf lowered its head and turned around. With its back turned towards Mehrcy, he stopped his growling. When he did, he heard a pained voice in the distance.
"Stop."
Then the wolf jumped and disappeared into the bayou. Right as it did, the wolf faded away and Mehrcy found himself back in his usual body still over the print. The males were still hovering around Tohr like nothing had happened. Mehrcy collected himself as he stood up. He found his body shaking that he had to hold his arm for his body to stand still.
"So I guess we keep a lookout for a person killing lessers like a wolf," Phride joked.
Everyone walked their own way. Mehrcy was still standing by himself which gave him time to control his body. Sensing the other getting ready to clean up the mess and head back to the mansion, he looked once more at the print before facing the others.
"By any chance do you any of you know a female with dark blue eyes?" he asked.
Sam tripped over his feet. The human caught himself and looked at Mehrcy. Something in them bothered Mehrcy.
"Why you asking?"
"It might sound weird but I've had a dream and vision revolving around the female. There was a black wolf with the same colored eyes and I almost saw the female in a vision when the same wolf threw me out. I think this killing has to do with her."
Worried eyes glanced over at Sam. He shook his head a couple of times and took a steady breath. "Yeah, I know a person. She has the same colored eyes you just described. Did you see anything else that could help?"
"Why does it sound like this is a normal thing for you?"
"I'm sure you already met Gabrielle. She used to have visions of the future and we were in the same unit in the army. If you're having visions all of a sudden, you need to tell us everything you saw. The tiniest detail could help."
"He's right, father," spoke Nightmahre. "Sam is the best person who knows things when it comes to visions. Is that why you passed out earlier? If so, tell us what you saw."
"Fine," he said. "All I saw was the woman's eye color and hair. It was so short it barely touched the nape of her neck. I think it was light blond. She seemed pretty tall. That's all I saw. I was forced back into my body by the wolf."
Sam cursed. "I know her. She was the same person who found you the other night. But Phury saw to erasing her memory of what happened. However," Sam looked at V and Sohrrow, "she was the reason why I called these two."
"Victoria?" asked Ehnvy.
"Yeah. Something's not right about her. I don't know what but it wasn't the fancy clothes or car she owned. There's something dark about her. It was when I saw her leaving Iron Mask that I felt like I should run for the hills. Something dark and evil came from her. There's no way in hell it was human."
"You didn't mention that," spoke V.
"I was about to when y'all caught the scent of lessers. Then I totally forgot when we found this mess." Sam gestured to the bodies. He then looked up at Mehrcy. "If you say you saw Victoria in your vision, I think you need to see her in real life before making claims. And if you're right and she did this, we might have a problem on our hands."