The Howling Trilogy Page 9

  The big man swiveled on his stool and looked at her. He touched the brim of his Stetson. “Afternoon, Mrs. Beatty.”

  “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  “Go ahead.”

  The man sitting next to Gadak got up and walked back to the men’s room without looking at Karyn.

  “What’s on your mind?” said Gadak.

  “There’s a truck out in the street getting ready to tow away a van.”

  “That so?”

  “The driver said you signed the order to have it towed away.”

  “Said that, did he?”

  Sudden anger gave heat to Karyn’s words. “Is there some reason you don’t want to talk about it?”

  Gadak’s tolerant smile faded. “Suppose you tell me why you’re so interested, Mrs. Beatty.”

  “I think I know the people who own the van.”

  “That’s interesting. There was no registration slip in the thing. It was breaking the law parked the way it was, so I had it towed away.”

  “Don’t you want to know who the owner is?”

  “Makes no difference to me. Somebody comes looking for it, I’ll tell ’em where they can pick it up. It ain’t my job to go find them.”

  Karyn held back a sharp retort. If Anton Gadak knew more than he was telling, and she felt sure he did, it would serve no purpose to anger the man.

  “Thank you,” she said coolly, and turned to walk out of the stale smelling tavern. Outside the tow-truck and the van were gone. Karyn crossed the street and went into the Jolivets’ store.

  Oriole greeted her enthusiastically. “Hey, Karyn, you’re a sight for sore eyes. How you feeling?”

  “Much better, Oriole. Thanks.”

  “Maybe we can get in a few hands of gin today. I tell you it’s been mighty dull around here the last three days.”

  “I don’t think I’m quite up to playing cards yet,” Karyn said. “What I’d like is to use your phone, if it’s all right.”

  “Help yourself. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  When Oriole had gone out through the rear of the store to give Karyn privacy, Karyn riffled through the thin local phone book, praying that Inez Polk was listed. To her relief, the number was there. She picked up the phone and dialed.

  Please be home, Inez. Please answer the phone.

  “Hello?”

  At the sound of Inez’ voice Karyn wanted to cry out with joy. She willed herself to be calm.

  “Inez, this is Karyn Beatty.”

  “Oh, yes, how are you, Karyn?”

  Keeping her eye on the door leading to the back room, Karyn went on in a low tone. “Right now I’m not too good. I want to tell you first off that I’m terribly sorry for the way I acted the other night.”

  “Don’t give it a thought. Your reaction was mild compared to some.”

  “Just the same, I was rude, and now I’m seeing things differently.”

  “Something has happened?”

  “I don’t want to go into it over the phone. Can you come to my place?”

  “I have a meeting at the school here tonight, but if it’s urgent I could miss it.”

  “It’s not really that urgent, I guess.”

  “How about tomorrow?”

  “That will be fine. And, Inez…”

  “Yes?”

  “Those books and things you told me about… would you bring them?”

  “I’ll bring them. Karyn, are you in any danger?”

  “No. It’s… I don’t think so. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.”

  Karyn hung up the phone and started to turn. She jumped as she saw Etienne Jolivet standing a few feet away, watching her.

  “Did I frighten you, Mrs. Beatty?” he said.

  It was the first time Karyn had heard him speak. His voice was a monotone with a soft, unplaceable accent.

  “I didn’t see you standing there,” she said.

  Etienne smiled at her. A shallow smile that did not reach his eyes.

  Oriole came back from the rear of the store. “Get your call made?”

  “Yes, thanks.”

  “Sure you won’t stay? Even for a cup of coffee?”

  “No, I want to be home before dark. To be there when Roy gets back, I mean.”

  “Well, take it easy,” Oriole said.

  Karyn bought a pound of coffee just to be buying something, and left the store. She passed up Marcia Lura’s shop, wanting nothing to do with the shortcut through the woods, and walked on down to where the narrow road turned off. All the way home she watched the brush on both sides as if expecting something unusual.

  Once Karyn was inside the little house, the remainder of the afternoon seemed to drag interminably. She wished Roy would come home. She would tell him about the young hikers’ van being towed away, and the strange guarded response of Anton Gadak when she asked about it. Maybe Roy would begin to see the strange things happening in Drago.

  She prepared a simple cheese casserole so all she would have to do was pop it in the oven when Roy came home. After that she sat down to read, but found it difficult to concentrate. A very light scotch and water calmed her as the sun slipped behind the western mountains and darkness spilled into the valley.

  Then came the howling. Karyn leaped from the chair, dropping the book she was reading on the floor. This time it was right outside.

  Karyn crossed the room in quick steps and pressed herself against the opposite wall. She stared at the front door, half expecting it to burst open.

  Whatever was outside howled again––a wailing night cry that ended in an ominous growl. Karyn forced herself to walk back across the room to the front window. She parted the curtains and looked out. In the clearing in front of the house, less than twenty feet from the door, hunched a dark, sinister silhouette. Without taking her eyes from the window, Karyn reached over and fumbled along the wall for the switch to the outdoor light. She found it and flipped it on.

  It was a wolf, but bigger than any wolf should be. As the animal sat on its haunches, the big head came to nearly four feet above the ground. It did not move when the light came on, but glared defiantly at the window. The reflected light of the bulb out in front made the eyes glow like jewels. The wolf’s fur was a dull gray-brown color, shaggier around the neck. The chest was full, the large forepaws planted solidly on the ground. As Karyn watched, the thin black lips of the animal skinned back and she saw the teeth.

  She fought down the terror that rose like bile in her throat. She would not live the rest of her life in fear. How dare this beast come to her house to intimidate her? Wolf, ghost, or werewolf––whatever it was, she would not yield to it without a fight. Letting the curtain fall back across the window, she went to the closet and took out the shotgun and the box of shells. She checked to be sure it was loaded.

  She carried the gun and the box of shells back into the living room. That other time, back in the apartment in the city, she had been defenseless and overpowered when she was attacked. This time it would be different. She had a weapon.

  Moving deliberately, Karyn unbolted the front door. She turned the knob and slowly, carefully pulled the door open.

  The wolf rose with a rumbling growl. It began to move toward her.

  The shooting lessons Roy had given her came back to Karyn in fragments. There was no time to try to remember everything. She shouldered the gun, aimed at the wolf, and pulled the trigger. The gun boomed and dirt exploded two feet to the right of the wolf. The animal stopped coming for a moment, but showed no fear.

  Keeping a grip on her emotions, Karyn reloaded the gun, corrected her aim for the trigger pull, and fired again. The charge of shot hit the wolf full in the face. The animal made no sound, but the impact knocked it over backward. For a moment all four feet thrashed the air.

  When the beast regained its footing one side of the massive head was raw and bleeding. However, the damage was far less than it should have been, considering the close-range shotgun blast. Karyn broke the weapon open and prepa
red to reload and fire again, but the wolf gave her no opportunity. It bounded away to the edge of the forest. There it stopped, looking back at her with raw animal hatred. After a moment it vanished among the trees.

  Karyn went back into the house and leaned the shotgun against a wall. Breathing heavily, she sat down at the kitchen table to await Roy’s arrival.

  14

  Roy Beatty stopped in the doorway, a greeting frozen on his lips. In a glance he took in Karyn’s controlled expression, her rigid posture in the chair, and the shotgun leaning against the wall.

  “What happened?”

  “It was here. The wolf. Right out in front of the house. I shot at it and hit it, but it got away.”

  Roy blinked, struggling to catch up. “A wolf?”

  “Right outside. I shot it.”

  He walked over and looked down into Karyn’s eyes. She looked frightened, but under control and rational enough. He went into the kitchen and found a flashlight in the tool drawer, then returned to Karyn.

  “Show me where the animal was when you shot it.”

  Karyn got up and led him out the door and into the clearing in front of the house. Roy played the flashlight over the ground as they walked. Karyn stopped walking and pointed down at her feet.

  “The wolf was right here,” she said.

  Roy knelt at the spot she indicated and slid the circle of light over the crisp dry grass. He reached down to touch a dark patch and held the light on his fingers. They were sticky with blood.

  “I guess you really did hit something,” he said.

  “Not something, Roy. A wolf. The biggest wolf I’ve ever seen.”

  “All right, you shot a wolf. What happened next?”

  “It ran off into the woods.”

  Roy swept the light over a larger area of ground. He spotted something a few feet away and went over to pick it up. It was a piece of ragged gray tissue the size of a playing card. He held it gingerly between thumb and forefinger.

  Karyn came over to look. “What is it?”

  “An ear.”

  Karyn turned away, shivering.

  “You go on back in the house,” he said. “I’ll take a look around in the woods.”

  “Roy, don’t go out there alone.”

  “I’ll be careful. The shotgun’s coming along too.”

  Karyn chewed her lip a moment before she spoke. “Roy, I don’t think the shotgun can stop this wolf. I should have killed it with my shot, but it just came up bleeding a little.”

  “You probably didn’t hit it as good as you think,” Roy said. “If it’s still around I’ll finish it off.”

  They went inside and Roy took the shotgun from where Karyn had propped it against the wall. He put a fresh shell in the chamber and dropped several more into his jacket pocket.

  “Keep the door locked while I’m gone,” he said. “Don’t worry.”

  When Karyn had closed and locked the door behind him, Roy walked to the edge of the clearing and swept the brush with the flashlight. He moved along slowly, examining the ground and the bushes. At one of the faint paths that led away from the house the light picked up something. Roy leaned down and saw a dime-sized spot of blood on a flat stone. Whatever it was that Karyn had shot must have come this way. Roy straightened and moved off along the path.

  Overhead the high cloud layer began to break up, and a bright moon shone through the openings. Roy walked easily along the path with the shotgun in one hand and the flashlight beaming ahead of him.

  A movement up ahead caught his eye and he stopped short.

  He snapped off the light and stepped cautiously forward. In a small grassy clearing he saw it again––something pale caught in a flash of moonlight. Roy brought the shotgun to a ready position and waited, holding his breath.

  “Are you going to stay there crouching in the bushes, or will you come and join me?” The woman’s voice mocked him from the clearing.

  Roy stepped toward the voice and snapped on the light. Marcia Lura looked back at him, her eyes glowing.

  For a moment Roy could not move. Marcia wore a deeply cut gown in green and black, night colors of the forest. Her dark hair folded softly back over wide shoulders that gleamed palely in the light. There was no surprise in her face, just a faintly amused smile.

  “My God, I almost shot you,” Roy said.

  “It’s a strange time to be out hunting.”

  Roy lowered the flashlight beam from Marcia’s face down over the lithe body. Its lines were clearly visible beneath the thin material of the gown. Suddenly uncomfortable, he snapped off the light.

  “I was following a wounded animal. My wife shot at a wolf, she thinks, and it came this way.”

  “I saw no wolf,” said Marcia, “or anything else.”

  “What are you doing out here, anyway?”

  “I often walk in the forest at night. It’s so very private.”

  “I suppose it would be.”

  “Have you ever tried it?”

  “Not alone.”

  Roy found himself standing quite close to the tall, supple woman. He was not sure whether he had walked across the clearing or she had come to him. It didn’t matter. The scent of sandalwood clung to her. Sandalwood and something else… something wild.

  “Would you like to walk with me?” she said.

  The pale green eyes caught the reflected moonlight and seemed to draw Roy down into them.

  “Or would you rather do something else with me?”

  With a swift, graceful movement Marcia unfastened the gown at her breast and let it slide down her body to make a dark pool at her feet. Beneath it she was naked. She stepped free of the fallen garment and moved back so he could see her.

  Her body was lean and smooth, her breasts high. Her stomach was flat. Below the navel a wedge of silky black hair pointed to the joining of her legs.

  “Do you like me?” she asked.

  Roy could only answer honestly. “Yes.” He realized he was still holding the flashlight and the gun. He let them drop.

  “Come to me,” Marcia said. She stood with apart and held out her bare white arms to him.

  Roy peeled off his clothes and tossed them aside. He felt the chill night air on his skin, and stepped forward quickly to take Marcia in his arms. The touch of her bare flesh was like a caress all up and down his body. She pressed herself against him. They kissed. Her mouth had the taste of wild berries. Desire for the woman overpowered his every civilized thought.

  With Marcia Lura, Roy discovered a savage, abandoned kind of sex, a kind he had never known. His body writhed and twisted in concert with hers. No inch of flesh, no orifice of the body went unexplored. Her long strong fingers were on him, in him. Her mouth swallowed him; her tongue darted and probed. He tasted her, inhaled her; he groped for the essence of her.

  The moon came and went as clouds pushed across the night sky. Time stopped. The climax, when it came, was sweet and wild and more complete than Roy had thought possible. They lay together afterward, their bodies cleaved into one. It was Marcia who made the first move. Gently she disengaged herself and sat up. She looked down at him, the curtain of black hair shading her face. The green eyes shone with a light of their own.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” he said.

  She reached down and placed her fingertips on his lips. He touched his tongue to her fingers and tasted the mingled juices of their bodies.

  Marcia rose and moved silently to where her gown lay on the forest floor. She raised it over her head and let it slide down over her body. With her eyes on Roy, she fastened the garment over her breast.

  “When will I see you?” he said.

  “When you want me.”

  Before he could speak again Marcia stepped lightly out of the clearing and vanished among the dark trees. Roy pulled himself upright and found he was sore and exhausted and utterly drained. He moved awkwardly about, retrieving his scattered clothing.

  When he was fully dressed again he let himself think about Karyn
. She would be wondering why he was so long. Guilt gnawed like a parasite in his stomach.

  Enough, he told himself. Feeling guilty would do no one any good. He had never claimed to be a saint. Marcia Lura had been there when he badly needed someone, and he had taken her. Or had she been the taker? It did not matter. The thing had happened, and he knew it would happen again. He picked up the gun and the flashlight and walked back along the path to the house.

  Karyn was waiting for him at the door.

  “I was getting worried.” She stepped back and looked at him over more carefully. “What happened to you?”

  Roy looked down at his clothes, rumpled and speckled with dirt and pine needles.

  “I thought I saw something and stumbled going after it. Turned out to be just a shadow.”

  “Oh?” One small syllable containing a world of female doubt.

  “I didn’t find a thing. As I said, whatever it was you shot at is long gone by now.”

  “Did you hurt yourself when you fell?”

  “No, I’m just tired. Why don’t we go to bed?”

  “Do you want something to eat?”