Marked in Flesh Read online

  they asked.

 

  Done. Since Talulah Falls was now a town controlled by the Others, there would no longer be a Courtyard as such. Vlad and Nyx, along with a couple of human residents, would take a look around the Falls and recommend places where the Sanguinati might live. The rest of the terra indigene who would settle in the Falls would select their new homes according to their nature.

  People were in desperate need of some supplies. Could something be done?

  Yes, something could be done. Checkpoints would remain, but an effort would be made immediately to bring in supplies—and find drivers who would be willing to bring a truck into the Falls.

  Vlad gave the police captain his e-mail address. Steve Ferryman did the same. Between them, they would do what they could while the transition of leadership took place.

  As a last gesture, they all followed Jerry Sledgeman’s livestock truck to the fenced acres that used to be the Falls Courtyard and released the four bison. Maybe the humans would value the meat; maybe not. But the gesture of help was building links among Talulah Falls, Ferryman’s Landing, and Lakeside.

  How much human do the terra indigene want to keep? Vlad thought as Henry drove the minivan back to Lakeside. Are the Sanguinati, who can adapt to urban environments better than most forms, going to become separated from the rest of the Others? Or are we going to be the stronghold that maintains the bits of human the terra indigene want while the other forms take care of the land? There’s a storm coming. We all know it, even if humans don’t want to see it. No point worrying about what might be until we see what is left.

  • • •

  Simon ran through the Courtyard. Ran and ran and ran. Talulah Falls wasn’t his responsibility. If the terra indigene there wanted to yield to the Sanguinati and go home, that was their business, not his. In Lakeside, the Sanguinati and Wolves were complementary predators, and they were strong predators. They made an effort not to quarrel with one another. Okay, they had snarled at each other a bit about Meg, but they were both being protective because she was not only a friend; she was Namid’s creation, both wondrous and terrible.

  He stopped suddenly and spun around. In smoke form, the Sanguinati had no scent. They made no sound. But he’d sensed something in the dark.

  Vlad asked.

 

 

  Did he? Why hadn’t he known that?

  He settled into a trot until he came to one of the creeks. He swam to the other side, shook the water out of his fur, then shifted to human and sat on the bank. A moment later, Vlad flowed across the water, shifted, and joined him.

  “Why didn’t you tell me the Sanguinati were going to take over Talulah Falls?” Simon said.

  “Until I felt confident that the terra indigene who were already there wanted to leave, I wasn’t supposed to say anything.” Vlad stared at the creek. “Sanguinati have ruled the Toland Courtyard since the first humans built houses on the land that became the city. We’ve seen Toland bloat around us, fill itself to bursting with humans. To abandon that Courtyard . . . It feels wrong. Like you would feel if all the Wolves were driven out of the Northwest and High North.”

  “But you didn’t leave because of humans.”

  “No, but we won’t be going back there.”

  Simon studied his friend. “It makes you sad.”

  “Yes. But I like it here, so the loss of Toland doesn’t feel as sharp for me.”

  “Why Talulah Falls? Wouldn’t Stavros prefer settling in Hubbney, where the region’s government is located?”

  “We’re already strongly established in Hubbney. Many of the Toland Sanguinati will resettle there, but Stavros . . .”

  “His being there would mean a fight for dominance.”

  “Not something we need at any time, but especially right now.” Vlad smiled. “Besides, I think Grandfather is doing a little of what humans call matchmaking.”

  Simon blinked. Blinked again. “He’s bringing Stavros here to find a mate? Who?” The second he asked, he knew. “Nyx. What does she think about that?”

  Vlad shrugged. “Grandfather is providing an opportunity since Nyx has shown no interest in the males here.”

  “Maybe she doesn’t want to mate yet.”

  Vlad laughed softly. “But it’s good to be available when a female changes her mind.”

  Simon growled. “Are we talking about Nyx?”

  “Of course.”

  “Meg has been very quiet since her visit to the Pony Barn this afternoon.”

  “Did Jester say why?”

  “He was very quiet too.”

  “That’s not good. The Coyote is rarely quiet when he knows something the rest of us don’t.”

  “Henry picked up the Elders’ scent on the outskirts of Talulah Falls and on the way home. He thinks they’re just curious, just poking around.”

  “He would know better than I would,” Vlad said.

  “He thinks we’ll be okay, and humans will be okay. He doesn’t think the Elders are considering extinction anymore.”

  “You think he’s wrong?”

  “I think I’d like to know why Meg is so quiet.” And why she kept rubbing the right side of her jaw when she thought I wasn’t looking.

  CHAPTER 27

  Thaisday, Juin 21

  Jesse stocked the store shelves with canned soups, tomato sauce and tomato paste, and a variety of canned fruits and vegetables. In the back room, she had big plastic bins that were airtight and mouse-proof. One held five-pound bags of flour; another held bags of sugar, both white and brown; and the third held boxes of pasta that she couldn’t fit on the shelves out front. The fourth she had filled with bags of rice and packages of egg noodles.

  Hopefully the supplies would still be good when the people in Prairie Gold needed them.

  Enough supplies to last until next spring, Tolya had told her after she’d mentioned her feeling that Prairie Gold might be denied access to other supplies, the same way the bookstore in Bennett had stopped her from buying new books for her store. Food. Medicines. What females need when they come into season and become snappish.

  Somehow, having a vampire mention PMS and menses as part of the preparation checklist was more unnerving than having him push her to order food that could be cached for the coming months.

  And not just food. Clothes too—everything from underwear and socks to jeans and T-shirts and sweaters and coats. Shoes. Boots. Anything that could be outgrown or worn out.

  Something was coming. Everyone in Prairie Gold felt it. The terra indigene knew what they were preparing for, but they weren’t sharing specifics.

  More bison had been shot—someone’s idea of malicious fun. The adult Wolves, especially those who were the hunters and guards, were away from their settlement, roaming to find the human culprits and put an end to this waste of food.

  Food wasn’t the only thing being wasted. Someone had poured gasoline down prairie dog holes and set them alight. The fire spread over acres of grassland, coming within yards of the settlement’s food crops. Then the wind changed direction, blowing the fire back on itself, saving Prairie Gold’s fresh food for the coming year.

  She and Phil Mailer, the postmaster and editor of the Prairie Gold Reporter, had driven to Bennett to report the incident, but no one had seen anything. What was the law enforcement in Bennett supposed to do? The fire didn’t happen in town or on any human land.

  She had hoped she was wrong about preparing for isolation, but that isolation had already begun with frightening speed. The Intuits couldn’t make purchases in any of the Bennett shops. You had to show your residence card in order to buy anything. When Truman Skye and Billy Rider, two men from Prairie Gold’s ranch, had asked if that rule applied to people stopping overnight
or visiting for a day or two, they were roughed up by a gang of men. After returning home, Truman had told Jesse and Phil—and Joe Wolfgard and Tolya Sanguinati—that the sheriff had been writing out a parking ticket within sight of the fight and didn’t notice two men being attacked by eight. As it was, Truman and Billy escaped with a few scrapes, some bruised ribs, and a couple of black eyes because a tree in the town square uprooted suddenly and crushed the cab of a pickup parked on the street.

  The rumor was that something had hooked its claws into the tree and ripped it out of the ground.

  Warnings issued from both sides. At least that’s how Jesse read that encounter—and Joe hadn’t disagreed with her assessment even if he wouldn’t confirm there was something besides Wolves and Wyatt Beargard watching the land between Bennett and Prairie Gold.

  So, no merchandise available from the nearest town. Everything they needed had to come by train or truck now. Trouble was, they were buying far more than the town residents or businesses could afford, and they wouldn’t have been buying much of anything if Tolya, as spokesman for his kin, wasn’t loaning them the money.

  No one had a feeling about borrowing money from the Sanguinati, but no one felt easy about it either. Still, it was either that or ignore the warnings that they needed to tuck in supplies.

  Diapers and baby powder. Blankets and bed linens. Towels. Toothbrushes and toothpaste. Toilet paper. Gods! How was a shopkeeper supposed to make an estimate about something like that?

  And where was she supposed to put all these supplies?

  The bell on the door jingled. Jesse turned away from the shelves, glad to be distracted by a customer.

  The girl looked to be about sixteen or seventeen. A stranger wearing one of the dresses Jesse knew had been in the window of the used-clothing store just last week. Sandals on her feet. Her hair was a light ash color and hung halfway down her back. Her eyes were amber, and the ears that suddenly poked out from beneath the hair were furry and not human-shaped.

  A Wolf, Jesse thought, smiling as she moved slowly toward the girl. “Hello. I’m Jesse, the owner of this store. Can I help you find something?” She spotted Joe Wolfgard and a stranger—another Wolf?—standing outside talking to Tobias.

  Chaperoned independence.

  “What’s your name?” Jesse asked.

  “Rachel. I’d like a book?”

  A statement phrased as a question. The girl wasn’t really sure she was allowed to ask for such a thing.

  “The books are over here.” Jesse led Rachel to the shelves. “These two shelves are new books. New books usually cost more. These two shelves have used books.” Jesse chose a paperback at random and handed it to Rachel.

  Rachel studied the cover. Then she sniffed the book, made a face, and handed it back.

  Interesting. She wanted to ask what the girl smelled on the book, but that would have to wait for the next visit.

  “You can also borrow books from the library.”

  “Borrow means we can’t keep it?”

  “That’s right. You read it and give it back to the library.”

  “We want a book to keep.”

  Jesse nodded. “A book for you?”

  Rachel hesitated. “A book of stories for puppies? To read to the puppies? I can read pretty well.”

  This girl threw out lures to snag the curious.

  Another time, Jesse promised herself as she studied the selection of children’s books that she had available. “Well, I have a book of animal stories.” When Rachel squatted beside her, she wanted to ask if the girl was wearing underpants beneath that summer dress, but that was a question that could cause embarrassment, especially if this was a first attempt at interacting with a human.

  “We like animals,” Rachel said.

  “I don’t know if the animals in these stories behave like the animals you know.”

  Rachel nodded. “Make-believe.” She held the book. Sniffed the book. And didn’t hand it back.

  “Would you like to pick out a book for yourself?”

  “I—” Rachel looked at the price sticker on the book of stories. “I don’t have enough money to buy another book.”

  “I’ll give you a book for yourself.”

  Rachel shook her head. “Supposed to buy it.”

  “Usually that is true. But today I would like to give you a book as a gift. As a way to say welcome.”

  “Oh.” The girl looked at the shelves of books, her amber eyes filled with delight and confusion.

  Bit by bit, Rachel told Jesse about the books she had read and which ones she liked the best. Finally, Jesse nudged Rachel toward an Intuit mystery writer who wrote a series of stories about a human who had a couple of terra indigene acquaintances who helped solve the mysteries. She wasn’t sure if the portrayal of the Others was sufficiently accurate. She hadn’t thought twice about that when she’d read some of the books.

  Well, it will be interesting to read one again with what I know about the Others now—and see what Rachel thinks of the characters. Would any of the terra indigene be interested in attending our monthly book club? Something to ask Joe Wolfgard.

  Jesse rang up the one book and watched through the window when Rachel left the store. The girl almost glowed with the triumph of a successful encounter. And turned shy when introduced to Tobias, who tipped his hat and did everything proper for an introduction.

  As Tobias came into the store, Joe looked at Jesse through the window—and smiled.

  We’re going to be all right, Jesse thought as the Wolves headed in the direction of the terra indigene settlement. If the Others accept us as friends, we’ll be all right.

  To: NS

  Troops are in position and are drawing unwanted attention. We must strike now or lose the element of surprise. Create the final distraction.

  —Pater

  To: NS

  The special deliveries from Cel-Romano have arrived. Awaiting your instructions.

  —HFL Leaders, Midwest and Northwest chapters

  To: HFL Leaders, Midwest and Northwest chapters

  Proceed with third stage of the land reclamation project.

  —NS

  CHAPTER 28

  Firesday, Juin 22

  Hope stared at the sheet full of drawings and felt her stomach roll.

  No. No, no, no! She’d had a happy day yesterday sketching the Wolf pups and juveniles. She’d drawn her friends as they napped and played and chased one another. Why, today, had she drawn them looking like this?

  She tore the page in half, then in half again, before shoving the pieces under her bed. This wasn’t a vision drawing. It wasn’t! Her friends were whole and healthy! They weren’t missing limbs. They weren’t trying to crawl away from danger with their heads bashed to pulp. They weren’t lying in a field burned beyond recognition.

  “It’s a bad drawing.” Hope sprang to her feet, intending to leave the cabin, to get away from the pencils and pastels and paper that told lies. “Won’t be real. Can’t be real.”

  She reached for the door but didn’t touch the knob.

  She hadn’t seen the reason for these drawings. If it was a vision drawing, she still didn’t know why the young Wolves might look like that. Would the next drawing give her the answers? Would it give Jackson and Grace what they needed to know in order to save the pack?

  Turning away from the door, Hope settled on the floor with her large sketchpad and closed her eyes.

  What is going to happen to the Wolves?

  She opened her eyes and stared at the drawer in the desk, craving the euphoria that came from using the razor. Instead, she picked up a pencil and let the vision sweep her away as her hands drew the answer to her question.

  CHAPTER 29

  Firesday, Juin 22

  Annoyed and oddly out of sorts, Meg gathered the prophecy cards that were scattered all over the sorting room floor. “Darn it, Sam,” she muttered. “I told you these cards weren’t playthings.”

  He’d been curious about them. Of
course he was. Wolf pups were curious about everything. But she’d told him these cards were special. And she knew that Simon and Henry had talked to the pup, explaining that these special cards were tools for visions. Like the razor. Something potentially dangerous. Not something for pups to play with.

  And now the cards felt odd, off, filmed in a way she couldn’t explain.

  She spread the cards over the surface of the big table, backs facing up. Each deck had a distinctive design on the back, so it would be easy enough to sort the cards into their proper decks. But she didn’t try to restore order. Instead, she touched the cards, and as she shuffled them around the table, a suspicion rose in her.

  Sam wouldn’t play with something that belonged to her. But what about Lizzy, Sarah, and Robert? The back door of the Liaison’s Office wasn’t locked when she was working. Pete Denby had an office on the second floor, and Sarah and Robert sometimes played up there when Eve Denby needed some child-free time. And Lizzy spent a lot of time around the Market Square playing with Sarah and Robert.

  Unlike the terra indigene young, who alternated between being interested in everything around them and napping to rest their little brains, human children quickly became bored with what they could have and whined to have the next thing they saw. At least, it sounded like they were always pestering their parents for “this,” and if they couldn’t have “this,” then they wanted “that.” If they’d been told they weren’t supposed to do something, it seemed that was the very thing they just had to do.

  And they had been told they couldn’t play with the prophecy cards.

  Maybe those things were normal for a human child. Having been raised in a compound where she had lived a very regimented life, she didn’t have any experience with “normal” when it came to children. She couldn’t tell the difference between youthful exuberance and misbehavior that would make the Others angry and cause trouble for all the humans. She’d made a mistake when Lizzy first came to the Courtyard, and the consequences of that had left her feeling anxious about everything the children did.