Aftertheblood - 2. Chapter 2

"And that's where it cuts off. The paladin ran off in that light burst that they like to do." Brooke Daniels said, brushing her red hair aside as she gave a summary of her post-cognitive trance to her close friend, Shaun Gainsborough. It was the morning after the grisly attacks, and the two of them came from the city to view the scene. They were standing across the street from the house where the fifth and final killing took place, avoiding police and prying eyes. The bodies were hauled off long ago, but the blood remained and there was plenty of it.

"Are you sure you can't take your Sight back further to try and see what happened to the other four?" Shaun asked as he lit a cigarette.

"I might have if your black ass didn't oversleep," she said, a little irate. "I could only see the last boy who got killed. You know I can only take my Sight back eighteen hours or so."

"And you know I'm not a morning person. But maybe we can talk to the paladins and see what they know."

Brooke laughed, "You know full well those damn fundies don't want anything to do with us."

"This is different. Innocent people were actually killed."

"They'd sooner see us killed than try to work with us on anything."

The two young mages walked down the street. Shaun took a drag off his cigarette, then said, "I can't imagine what the kids at the high school must be going through."

"Didn't you grow up around here?" Brooke asked.

"No, I'm from Maple Heights, the next town over," he replied, "I used to work at the Burger King out here though, so I know the area. Speaking of which, do you want to go there for a sec? You didn't give me a chance to eat anything before you had me teleport us here."

"I told you we'd have to hurry if we wanted my Sight to pick up anything. And do they ever shovel the fucking sidewalks here?!" she asked after sinking her foot in 8 inches of snow for the fifth time.

"Nope," Shaun replied as they headed for the BK.

"I still think we should just let the wolves handle this," Brooke said, "This is their problem."

"Yeah right," Shaun said with a slight scoff, "We're the only ones who really know anything about the east side of Cleveland for some reason. Everybody we know seems to be from the west. I kinda wanna give the paladins credit for getting here first. Sure they have their way of being in the right place at the right time, but they at least wanna help people even if that means going into a seventy-percent black area."

"Until the people they help decide they don't believe what the paladins do," Brooke adds, "Then their heads get blown off."

"Well, yeah there's that," Shaun said in sarcastic understatement, "But I was just surprised at everyone's apathy when they found out this was happening in Bedford."

"You know how people from the west side can be, they're always scared to come out this far. But anyway, I really think we should just let the other werewolves handle this. They can do it way better than we can."

Shaun was balancing on the frozen snowbanks as he walked, and replied, "But if none of them are familiar with the area, I'm just wondering what are the odds that wolfboy might kill again before someone gets to him?"

*********************

Shaun could barely concentrate at work that day. The nineteen-year-old shaman worked as a webmaster for The Cleveland Free Times, a local alternative newspaper. Working in the media, he heard about the attack hours before the general public. Almost everyone thought it was just a giant dog, and animal control was out in full force. He wanted to return to the area after work and use some of his own mojo to figure this mess out. Brooke could see the into the past, but always had difficulty seeing the future without her subject right in front of her. Shaun had an easier time in the right situation, even though it disturbed Brooke greatly. When he finally got off work, he drove down to Cleveland State University to pick her up from her dorm.

"Why don't you just teleport us there?" She asked, "It'd beat this rush hour traffic."

"I want to save my strength for when we get there. We need to know when he's gonna strike next."

Brooke grimaced, "You mean you're gonna..."

"It's the best way for me to divinate."

"Oh my God, I hate when you do this shit," she said with a groan.

A half hour later, they arrived in Bedford at a forest protected by the county park system. After walking a ways through the snowy woods, the two of them soon regretted not changing into sturdier clothing. Just then, Shaun stopped dead in his tracks.

"There," he whispered, pointing at an adult cottontail rabbit nibbling on a weed.

"Aww, I can't look," Brooke said, and looked away as Shaun pulled out a silenced pistol.

He said a quick spell of accuracy, and shot the rabbit, killing it instantly.

"Easy enough," Shaun said.

"Um yeah, I'll leave you two alone," Brooke said and went over to watch a nearby creek.

Shaun went over to the downed rabbit. The bullet hit the rabbit in the head. Thankfully, its brain wasn't important. He took out his pocket knife and cut the rabbit down the middle. He spread the animal open and pulled out its innards, inspecting them one by one, looking for the signs he needed.

Brooke soon got bored looking at frozen water and pulled out her cell phone to play Tetris. After a seeming eternity, Shaun finally came back from his gory divination session.

"Got any wetnaps?" he asked.

She handed him one from her purse and asked, "So what's up?"

"He's gonna attack again tonight," Shaun replied, "Someone else might die, but that part wasn't too clear."`

"Where is he?"

Shaun lit a cigarette and took a very deep drag. "Where 'stone walls guide the waters.' I think I know where that is..."