"Think about it, Sali. Some of them hunt, just not in the same way. Before animals were domesticated, hunting ensured their survival. You eat vegetables, even though you don't want to sometimes. I hear it's the same with some of them. There are a few with medical conditions that keep them out of sunlight. It can harm those people; just like it can my dad. They just don't grow fangs or claws."
"Or fur on the full moon," Sali nodded. "Mom's keeping my allowance for the next month because I jumped up on the back door last time and put scratches in the varnish."
"Dude, isn't that the sixth time you've done that?" Ashe tore out the page of rejected essay topics and handed it to Sali. He didn't want any of them.
"Maybe," Sali grinned and ducked his head. He couldn't help scratching at the door while he was wolf. He figured it was because he wanted out to run when the Moon was full. "Someday, Ashe, you're gonna buy a convertible and I'm gonna sit in the passenger seat while I'm wolf and let the wind blow through my fur."
"No doubt you'll be leering at all the cars we pass, too," Ashe said dryly.
"Goes without saying," Sali shrugged.
"Dinner's done," Ashe said, closing his notebook half an hour later. He'd heard Mrs. DeLuca pulling the pan out of the oven. Denise DeLuca confirmed it, calling out to them moments later.
"This is really good, Mrs. DeLuca," Ashe said. The pot roast had turned out perfectly and Marcus and Mr. Winkler had come in and sat at the table to eat with everyone else. Marco was still absent. Ashe noticed Mr. DeLuca's frown over Marco's empty seat at the table, but Marcus didn't say anything. Ashe imagined that Marcus wouldn't be silent once Ashe went home. He and Sali helped with the dishes afterward, even as Ashe began to feel strangely uncomfortable. His skin felt itchy-tingly, for some reason. He felt the need to call his mother as he hung up the dishtowel and followed Sali to his bedroom again. Ashe became more and more agitated as he walked until he wanted to crawl out of his own skin.
"Sali," Ashe hissed, once Sali's bedroom door was closed, "you can't tell anybody about this. Promise me!"
"Okay. Uh, tell anybody what?" Sali was confused.
"About this," Ashe whispered and turned to mist. Sali's eyes were huge as Ashe disappeared and flew straight through the ceiling of Sali's bedroom.
Floating above the DeLucas' home, Ashe took a moment to get his bearings before hurtling toward Cordell. His mother was in trouble, he just knew it. Something was happening and Ashe was frightened witless. Mr. Dalton's CPA office was near the bank on East First Street. Ashe was flying so fast as mist that the ground and trees were a blur beneath him, and he was speeding along in a straight line instead of following roads. It was just as Mr. Dawkins, Ashe’s Math teacher always said—the shortest distance between two points was a straight line. Ashe arrived above Cordell in a matter of minutes, only to find his mother's old blue Ford speeding westward on Highway 152. There wasn't any reason for her to be going in that direction. None at all. Ashe was following the truck in very little time, worrying that he wasn't going to catch up with it. Fear had him flying faster than ever, and he had no time to concern himself with how swiftly he might be going; he was focused and determined to reach the truck.
* * *
"I didn't see that, I didn't see that," Sali drew in the deepest of breaths while he murmured the litany to himself. Ashe had disappeared. Just went invisible, and now Sali couldn't find him. Didn't even know if Ashe was still inside the bedroom with him. "Dude," Sali whined, "please show up again. Please. I didn't see that, I didn't see that," Sali repeated.
* * *
"Adele is at the accountant's office, dealing with this year's taxes," Aedan said as he and Radomir walked through the garage. "Ashe is with the DeLucas, and Adele will pick him up. We can check the site Marco found yesterday," Aedan added, clicking the button on the garage door opener to close the steel door.
"He seems sure James Johnson was killed in that wooded area?" Radomir asked.
"Near the Johnson's pond at the back of their property," Aedan nodded. "How the body came to be behind our house afterward is still a mystery, but Marco says there were signs of a conflict on the eastern edge of the pond. He claims there are claw marks there, but the rain and the passage of time have obliterated the scents."
"I doubt we'll find anything to substantiate this claim," Radomir said, climbing into Aedan's SUV. "But we will look anyway."
"We're grasping at straws as it is. I'll follow any lead at this point." Aedan started the vehicle and drove toward the Johnson's wheat farm. "Paul and Jean Johnson are not only devastated at the loss of their son but they'll have to hire someone to help with the harvest."
"I have never had a child, not even a vampire child," Radomir admitted as Aedan drove along. "I think it might destroy me to lose one."
"It might," Aedan agreed, thinking of Ashe.
* * *
Ashe was terrified and screaming mentally as he flew through the roof of the old blue Ford. The truck had begun to weave dangerously on the highway as he misted through the metal top, but what he found when he reached the inside frightened him more than that, if it were possible. His mother, unconscious, slumped on the passenger side of the truck while the driver's seat was completely empty. Ashe had less than a blink to do something. Should he attempt to drive the truck himself or pull his mother into his mist and get away? Ashe stared through the windshield and made up his mind quickly.
* * *
"Marco could be right," Aedan examined the area carefully, his vampire sight showing him everything as clearly as if the sun had been high overhead. The ground surrounding the pond was covered in grass and newly grown weeds, some nearly a foot tall, except for a spot where the earth looked as if it had been churned up and disturbed. Clumps and clods of dirt, many with dried grasses still clinging to them, were scattered throughout the site.
"Here," Radomir pointed to a spot outside the uneven circle. "This is a Wolf's paw print. No doubt about that."
"But what is this?" Aedan indicated another print he couldn't identify. The toes held claws, that much was certain. The print, what there was of it, resembled a human foot in a way; it was long, with a heel and toes. Aedan could see the deep gouges and furrows the attached claws had made in the soil. He was thankful the rain hadn't completely destroyed the prints.
"I've never seen anything like that," Radomir examined the ground carefully. Taking a tiny digital camera from his pocket, he proceeded to record images of the prints and surrounding area.