Hunter s Moon - By Lori Handeland Page 0,61

monster. He was going to turn me into a werewolf, too. So we could be together forever."

I shuddered as the memory slid through my mind. Hector's voice on the phone, calling me at odd hours, telling me everything he'd planned for me. I think.

"What happened?" Jessie asked. "Why didn't he bite you?"

"Edward came. Hector knew Edward would kill me if I was bitten. So he - "

I broke off. No reason for Jessie to know how Hector had marked me or why.

"He's been waiting for the perfect time to come back and finish what he started."

"I wondered why you became a Jdger-Sucher."

"And you think you know?"

"What better way to protect yourself than by becoming a hunter of the thing that's hunting you?"

I'd become a hunter for vengeance. But no matter how many of them I killed, it would never be enough. I was going to have to kill him.

The thought sent a shaft of panic through my chest so painful I found it hard to breathe.

Will caught up with us. "I was thinking - "

"Gee, that's new," Jessie drawled.

He continued to speak as if she hadn't. "Leigh, your family was killed by the white wolf on the night of the blood moon?"

Jessie had been blabby, but I couldn't fault her for it. We had to work together, as much as I'd rather work alone.

"Yes," I answered.

"Why that night, I wonder? Is there something special about it?"

I shrugged. "You're the paranormal expert."

"Not really. But I know someone who is."

"One of those elders you mentioned?"

"I talked to them. No one's ever heard of the power eater. But they knew a woman of great rank in the Midewiwin."

"English, please," Jessie instructed.

"The Grand Medicine Society. Once it was a secret religious fellowship devoted to healing through knowledge of the spirits. According to the elders, Cora Kopway has spent her life studying old texts and meeting with the spirits in her visions."

"Wouldn't being a scholar preclude being a visionary?"

Will smiled. "Not to an Ojibwe. Everything relates to everything else. Life is a circle - "

"Yeah, whatever," Jessie interrupted. "When can we see this chick?"

"We?"

"That's right. I'm not letting you out of my sight until this is over."

He frowned. Opened his mouth as if to argue, then shut it again.

"She likes you," I said. "I can tell."

A voice hailed Jessie. We turned in that direction. A heavyset elderly man waved to us through a gap in the trees. He was a big guy, but his skin was so wrinkled and his shoulders so stooped he gave the appearance of shrinking.

The three of us entered a clearing. Three dead wolves littered the earth. I could tell without getting any closer that none of them had been eaten. What was up with that?

Jessie introduced me to her deputy as being from the DNR. Elwood shook my hand with more enthusiasm than anyone else ever had. I was half-afraid he'd dislodge the hearing aids tucked into both ears.

"You know what's going on here?" he asked.

"Rabies," I answered. "New strain."

"Never seen wolves kill their own like this." He shook his head as he stared at the bodies. "Kind of sad."

It could get a whole lot sadder, but I kept my opinion to myself.

"Tell us what you know," Jessie instructed.

"I received a call from Joe Elders. His dog took off, and he found the mutt gnawing on that one." Elwood pointed to the gray and white wolf nearest to me. "Dog was up on his shots, so we're kosher there."

I nodded. If we were dealing with rabies, I'd be happy, as it was, didn't care. "What about the others?"

"When Joe looked around a bit, he found 'em nearby."

"They weren't together like this?"

"No. I pulled them over myself. Sorry. I shouldn't have done that?"

I shrugged. Hard to make a fuss about the crime scene in this case. How would I explain what the crime was?

"The first one was here. One there." He pointed to the east. "About ten feet. Other one that way." He switched his arm to the north. "About twenty feet. Almost like the wolf was waiting around to pick 'em off one at a time." He frowned. "But wolves don't do that, either. I ain't never seen such a thing."

"Thanks, Elwood," Jessie said. "We'll take it from here."

He started to move away.

"Wait." Jessie pulled the picture of Hector out of her back pocket. "You seen this guy in town?"

The old man took the photo, frowned, squinted. I held my breath. Did I want him to have seen Hector, or