The trapper went out trying to check his snares for rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, anything that might have found itself caught by the snare. So far all of them had been empty and with the last two traps to check he hoped something had tripped one. From a distance he could see a clump of fur curled up under the tree where his trap was posted and instantly picked up his speed. "Finally." He shouted at his dog dashing forward. "We got something boy." The trapper came up to his snare looking down at the half mangled body of a raccoon. The head had been eaten off and the innards were ripped out and tossed around the tree in an almost decorative fashion. "Damn." The trapper growled. "Must have been a coyote." He took his rifle and poked at the dead animal, closest to a close investigation as he would get.

From behind him the old hound spun around, his hair raising on his back as he started to growl and then break into a panicked bark. "What's that boy?" The hunter turned to glare into the forest. The sun low in the sky it was difficult spotting anything through the brushes but something had moved quickly shaking a bush and took off. "Bet it's that yote." The dog started barking before taking off after whatever was running. "Go on, get it." The hunter followed behind the red hound as it yapped and howled. Vanishing into the brush he could only hear the animal running around and yapping, his barks growing more and more distant. "Get him." The hunter called to his faithful companion still following his barks. Then the dog stopped barking leaving him surrounded by silence.

"Benny?" The hunter called out to his dog. "Benny boy, where are you at?" The silence continued before a loud pained scream ripped through the underbrush, the dog screaming in pain, the sound of snapping bones and then silence once again. "Benny." The hunter ran forward towards where he had heard the dog. Weapon raised and ready to fire into whatever had attacked the dog and finished it off. "Benny, I'm coming boy." Then another noise came, a haunting and unnatural cry, the combination of a scream and an elks mating call. It was a high pitched shrill with a deep hollow that rumbled in his chest. Coming up into the space where his dog had been the hunter paused and let out his own scream, the rifle going off before claws came down and splashed blood over the trees behind him.

Hamish came up on the scene where Randal and Alejandro were waiting, a report had come in from a student that had been out for a hike and had come across the body. He looked around on the ground a moment unable to see anything. "So, where is the body?" He put his hands on his hips before watching both Randal and Alejandro point up. Slowly his eyes scanned up into the branches of the tree where the hunter was hanging. One arm was broken and twisted around the branch while the other was caught between a small gap within the tree itself. Both legs had been torn off and the chest was completely torn open from collarbone to naval. Ribs were spread apart exposing the organs or at least where his organs should have been. From what Hamish could see he'd been hollowed out. The obvious had to be asked. "You don't think this was a werewolf do you?"

Randal shook his head. "This doesn't look like anything I've seen any of us do. No way this could be Alpha."

Alejandro added, "The Jaguar warriors were once known for dragging their kills up into trees but I'm the last of us and I can inform you with great confidence that this wasn't me. Besides any of us would have only eaten the heart. Why empty out the rest of it?"

Great, so this meant it was something else. Hamish started walking around the area seeing the footprints from the hunter and a few dog like pawprints but nothing else. "You smell that?" Hamish asked them both.

"Yeah, dead things." Randal pointed up at the body again. It was pretty obvious where the smell of death and rot were coming from.

"I smell it too, what is it?" Alejandro asked, taking another sniff around him. "Smells like bad eggs and bone marrow."

"That's oddly specific." Randal commented.

"It's very faint but I remember that smell." He'd smelled it before but where had it been?

"Me too." Alejandro commented as well. "At the farm house, the abandoned one."

"You mean the one you attacked Vera in?" Hamish glared back at him making Alejandro put his hands up defensively.

"That's in the past now Magus."

"Not to me." Hamish reminded him. He was working with Alejandro but it didn't mean he trusted the Gnostic Council member. "The smell was all over Vera when I pulled her out of the caves." Since Alejandro had brought it up he was able to fully remember where he'd smelled it from now. Looking over his shoulder to Randal Hamish spoke up again. "Vera doesn't need to know about this."

"Too late." A voice rang out behind them, that familiar dark feminin tone he was oh too familiar with. "Vera already knows."

He looked up at Vera coming up the trail with two acolytes with her. How? How the hell did she find out already? They had only just gotten here themselves. Vera might not have her powers but she had something. "Well, news travels fast."

"It does." She looked up into the tree seeing the mangled body. "Did you find the dog?"

"The dog?" Randal asked before Vera pointed down to the pawprints on the ground. "Oh, no."

Vera followed the footprints towards a cluster of brush. There was blood on some of the leaves and something moving around inside the foliage. Vera reached out to push back a branch only to hear growling. Before Vera could jump back the red hound mix came out of the brush snapping his teeth and snarling, blood was covering his face, deep scratches on his nose and half his left ear ripped off. He foamed at the mouth, bloody froth coming from his long droopy jowls. Hamish stepped between Vera and the dog, his eyes flashing silver as his own wolfish fangs came out. Growling back at the dog he was able to make the hound tuck back and whimper.

"Hamish, don't kill the dog." Randal came running up a little excited to see the dog, a real dog too. Last time Jack hadn't let him take the puppies, poor Bandit and Larry. He wondered what had happened to those cute pups. Randal squatted down being the best with dogs out of the group since he'd grown up with them. "Hey buddy, don't worry there, come on out, we won't hurt you." The hound continued to stay low, glancing back at Hamish with wide wild eyes before he finally darted out towards Randal. The dog was dragging his back leg, the limb broken and snapped nearly backwards with large claw marks cut down his side and over his back. "Oh man, poor dog. No wonder why he snapped at you, he's probably in a lot of pain."

"What could have done that?" Hamish looked over to Vera.

She'd seen claw marks like that before, thin and long deep gashes unlike the thicker cuts werewolves made. "The same thing that had killed the deer in the tunnels."

"Back at the farm? That was miles away, could it have come this far and close to Belgrave?"

"The question shouldn't be if it could, we should be asking what it is and why it's here now." Vera looked back up to the body in the tree. "Get that down and get rid of it before anyone else sees it."

"What about the dog?" Randal asked, a little concerned for the big old mutt.

"What about it?" Vera asked, she wasn't much for animals so it was no surprise she didn't care what happened to it.

"We can't just leave him out here like this."

"Well then, you take care of it." Vera looked back to Hamish crossing her arms over her chest. "I need to get back to Theo, I left her alone with Gabrielle and I'll admit I'm a little afraid of what I'll see when I get back." Like a Gabrielle jr. No, please no. "Keep me updated on this, you might want to start in the reliquary. The third shelf second row, there are a few books on the various creatures capable of that kind of damage."

"You aren't going to help?" Hamish asked thinking Vera had come all this way here because she wanted to micromanage this one.

"No, why would you need my help? You are very capable Hamish, it's why I named you Temple Magus and this is a Temple Magus situation." Vera started walking away from them again. "Call me when you get in trouble."

She didn't say if, she actually said when. It meant she was expecting them to get in over their heads despite just telling him that he was capable. Was she messing with his head? "Benny." Randal spoke behind him looking at the dog's collar. "Come on Benny." Randal picked up the bloody dog and looked at Hamish. "Hey can I borrow your car?"

"What? No." His baby rode in that SUV, no way was he having a bloody and maybe rabid dog in the same vehicle his newborn went into.

"Alejandro?"

"I can give you a ride to the vets." Alejandro then used his power of being above him due to his position in the Gnostic Council. "Well Hamish, you heard the Grand Magus, clean up that body." Alejandro led Randal back through the woods while Hamish just stood there a moment. Did he just get left cleaning up this body alone? Hamish looked back up towards the tree, the arm bent around the branch finally slipped loose leaving the weight of the full body on the arm caught in the y bend at the top. Once the body weight strained the arm too much the broken shoulder finally gave way and dropped the body down through the branches leaving the single arm still trapped up above.

With a sickly wet thud the body hit the ground not far from Hamish's feet. "Great." Hamish kicked his shoe having gotten a little piece of...something. "Just great."