from eating ashes.
His body was between me and the forest.
As if from a long way off I heard an odd thunk. It wasn't until something whistled through the air that I realized what I'd heard.
If I hadn't known the sound from memory, the arrow sticking out of Mandenauer's shoulder would have clued me in. He fell to his knees, narrowly missing the remains of the fire.
I pulled my weapon, crouched in front of him, and searched the tree line. Nothing was there.
Mandenauer shoved me with his foot. "Go. I'll be fine."
He'd hauled his rifle into his lap, but with the arrow sticking out of his shoulder, he wouldn't be able to shoot very well.
I sighed. "I'm not going to leave you."
"He's getting away."
"He's gone and you know it."
I peered at the arrow more closely. A chill went over me. "This is from a crossbow."
"So?"
Pictures flashed in front of my eyes. Cadotte's semi-messy house. Papers. Books. Wolf head on the wall. Crossbow in the corner. Hell.
I glanced at Mandenauer and decided not to share. "Never mind."
He tried to see the arrow, twisting this way and that. Blood stained his shirt in an alarming flood.
"Hey. Quit moving around!"
"How can you tell what kind of bow it came from?"
"Shorter."
"It feels long enough to me." Sweat had broken out on his brow. His pale skin had gone a whole lot paler.
"Come on." I helped him to his feet with his good arm. "Let's get you to a doctor."
"Just pull it out. I'll be fine."
"You want a bullet to chomp on, big boy?"
"What?"
"Never mind. I'm not pulling that out."
"This is what they want. For us to be taken away from the hunt. If we do not destroy the werewolf army before the blue moon, evil will walk the earth."
"Evil always walks the earth, in one form or another."
He stumbled and I held on tighter. "You are right. Even if we succeed here, there is always another monster somewhere else. It never ends."
"Thanks, pal. Just what I needed to hear."
Along with the knowledge that Cadotte had tried to kill me, the idea that monsters were everywhere, for always, made my day complete. For a woman who had scorned all things woo-woo, I'd become awfully accepting of monsters. I suppose that was bound to happen.
I loaded Mandenauer into my car and headed for the emergency clinic, calling my whereabouts and the situation in to Zee on the way. She said she'd inform Clyde, if she could find him. He had a habit of disappearing when he wasn't on duty. I couldn't blame him. A man needed some time away from the chaos.
Mandenauer closed his eyes. I thought about crossbows. They weren't common - it was illegal in this state to hunt with one unless you were over sixty-five or physically incapacitated.
However, owning one wasn't illegal, so its presence in Cadotte's house hadn't bothered me - until five minutes ago. He had a right to buy one and use it for target practice. I winced at the memory of who had been the target.
I had kissed Cadotte, touched him, let him touch me in ways I'd never let anyone else. Half an hour out of his bed, and he'd tried to kill me. He could have told me he wanted to be just friends.
"Does anyone else know you have that totem, Jessie?"
Mandenauer's eyes were still closed. He faced me, his uninjured shoulder against the seat, the arrow sticking out of the other and pointing at the passenger window. Looking at it made me slightly nauseous, so I concentrated on the road.
"Just you and me."
"Best to keep it that way, hmm?"
"Sure."
"Better safe than dead," he murmured.
"Which brings me to the question: If they wanted us dead, why not use a bullet?"
"Why not indeed?"
"This answering with a question stuff isn't answering at all, you know?"
"No?"
My back teeth ground together so hard they hurt. "Maybe I should pull that arrow out."
"Be my guest," he said, but his voice was fading and there was blood on the seat.
I drove faster. By the time I reached the clinic, Man-denauer had passed out. I drove right up to the door and shouted for help.
The same doctor was working. He glanced at me and frowned. "I'm starting to think you're bad luck."
"Me, too."
They whisked Mandenauer away. An hour later I got to see him. He was fine but dopey. I figured now was as good a time as any to get a clear answer to any question I might ask. And I had