His hands were covered with small plastic bags tied off at the wrists, the crime scene techs having worked quickly to preserve any and all evidence of the struggle, determined to drag from the ruins something to work with, some clue with which to trap the killer. Through the plastic Sam could see the splashes of violet that had dried beneath Jake’s nails, blood left behind from whatever injury Jake had managed to inflict on his attacker.
A technician pushed by, jostling him as he went past, causing him to look over at the expression on Jake’s face.
Raw determination and defiance were etched there for all to see, as if his last act had been to spit in the thing’s face. His lips were pulled away from his teeth, frozen in a vicious rictus of a smile. A smile that even the pain of his death had been unable to erase.
When Sam first arrived, after receiving the call, Damon hesitantly filled him in, letting him know what they had managed to reconstruct of Jake’s last movements and the tragedy that followed.
Apparently he’d been out for a walk, and, as was his habit, he’d chosen to cut through the park instead of taking the long way around. Some hundred yards away from the road, he’d been struck and had fallen; the technicians had marked and measured the spot already, the marks of a scuffle clearly evident in the soft dirt of the ball field. The long ragged track left behind indicated that he’d reinjured his bad leg, dragging it behind him into the grass of the outfield as he tried to reach the safety of the lights in the playground. Halfway there he’d been attacked again, his blood staining the ground where he collapsed the second time. He must have turned to fight at that point, because bright blotches of the Nightshade’s own violet blood colored the grass along with his own. Somehow, and Sam couldn’t understand how, Jake had managed to pull free of the beast one more time, driving his fingers into the soft loam and pulling himself forward, ripping chunks of it free as he dragged himself, vainly believing the light might save him.
It hadn’t.
Moloch had caught him and dashed his body down on the hard, unforgiving surface of the merry-go-round. From the angle of Jake’s body it was clear that he had struck the metal bars from a height, the shock of the landing snapping his spine like a dry twig. From there, the end had come quickly.
They hoped.
The officers were all around Sam now, trying to do their work, so he backed away, his eyes never leaving his friend’s face.
I’ll find it for you, Jake,he breathed silently.I swear to you, I will find it. He turned away then, unable to look any longer, as the medical examiner’s team began loading Jake’s body into the dark plastic of a body bag. Tears welled in Sam’s eyes, spilling down his cheeks. He looked around, into the gray light of the near dawn, wondering where the Nightshade had gone once it had finished with Jake. It was out there somewhere, hiding, waiting for the darkness.
He would find it, wherever it was, even if it took the rest of his life.
Then he would kill it.
He turned and walked away from the gathering group, and found Damon waiting for him by the Bronco.
The two men stood in silence for a minute, then Damon spoke what they both knew to be true.
“It’s back, isn’t it?”
Sam could only nod.
Damon thought about it for several long, silent moments, then said, “Whatever you’re planning, I’m in. I want to stop this thing once and for all.”
For once, Sam had the distinct feeling they understood each other perfectly.
“Where do we start?” Damon wanted to know. “How do we find this thing?”
Sam wasn’t sure. He did, however, have an idea. He just hoped Katelynn was strong enough to go through with it. Jake’s death had driven her into hysterics.
He turned to face the sheriff. “I have an idea of how to find this thing, but I’ll need Katelynn’s help in order to do it. Can you get someone to take me to her home?”
Damon nodded and called to one of his deputies. Turning back to Sam, he said, “When you’re ready, call me at the station. If I don’t happen to be there, have them patch you through to me on the radio, understand?”
“Yeah,” Sam replied, his thoughts already far away as he considered what they were about to do. In less than twelve hours it would be dark again.
They didn’t have much time.
38
HUNTING ONCE MORE
“You’ve got to use the necklace, Katelynn. It’s our only hope of tracking the Nightshade down.”
Katelynn stared at him, hearing his words but not understanding their meaning, as if he were speaking in a foreign language.
After the sheriff’s deputies had dropped him off, Sam stayed with Katelynn throughout the morning and into the afternoon. The sedative Sam had made her take had forced her into a deep sleep, but it hadn’t kept the nightmares at bay. They’d been ghastly images of blood and teeth and claws, a kaleidoscope of pain and horror that threatened to smother her with its loathsome weight, until she came kicking and screaming back out of sleep. The room echoed with her cries. She found herself being held tightly by Sam when she regained her senses, his soothing voice helping to banish the demons.
Sam.
She realized he was speaking to her then, and she focused her attention on him just in time to catch the tail end of what he was saying.
“…and that’s why you’ve got to use it.”
“Use what?” she asked.
“The necklace!” he replied, exasperated. “Haven’t you been listening to what I’ve been saying?”
She looked at him quizzically, then she suddenly understood.
She went pale at the notion, and her body began to shake.
“No way,” she said, her voice a dull monotone. She moved shakily across the room and squatted next to Loki. Damon had dropped the dog off at her place while she’d slept; Loki somehow seemed to sense that Jake was not coming back. Damon had assumed the two might be good company for each other, and he’d been right.
Sam wouldn’t give up that easily, however. “It’s the only way, Katelynn. You’ve got to!”
“No,” she said again, more firmly this time.Doesn’t he understand what he is asking? Doesn’t he realize that whenever I wear it, I am sucked into whatever horrible acts the beast is presently committing? That I can smell the blood, taste the fear, and feel the flesh between my claws?
Does he have any idea just how horrible it all is?
She didn’t think so.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be asking.
Besides,she thought,we don’t even have the stone. She had given it to Jake when he was recovering in the hospital, and they hadn’t talked about it since. For all she knew he had thrown it away.
She certainly hoped so.
She said so to Sam.
“Fuck!” he cried, suddenly furious. Knowing Jake, the stone could, quite literally, be anywhere.
“We’re just going to have to find it then,” Sam said.
Katelynn couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She turned to face him. “No way, Sam.”
“What do you mean ‘no way’? We have to.”
“I said no. Even if you do find it, I won’t agree to go through with using the stone. I am not touching that thing again. Leave it alone!”
Sensing her agitation, Loki climbed to his feet and licked her face. She rubbed at his fur and watched as he eyed Sam warily. It was almost as if the dog knew what he was saying, and disagreed with the notion, too.
“I can’t leave it alone, Katelynn! The thing that killed Jake is out there somewhere, and I am going to put an end to it!” He turned and kicked out in anger, smashing his foot into the easy chair next to him.