Hunting Grounds by J. E. Cammon

Author:J. E. Cammon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: paranormal, urban-fantasy, fantasy, supernatural, JE Cammon, Eternal Press, contemporary, Where Shadows Lie, Nick Hughes, Scarlet, lycanthrope, shapeshifter
Publisher: Damnation Books
Published: 2012-03-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

On their way south, Scarlet had caught herself staring out of the tow truck windows. The sun’s light was reflecting off of golden fields, flying by at a perfect speed, not too fast or too slow. It was peaceful. Then, she had caught her eyes in the reflection of the glass, and all the brimming turmoil within them.

She had wiped the sleep from her face and turned away from the window, and faced Claus, who was driving in silence. He had glanced over at her knowingly.

“Rest if you want,” he had said. “Those moments are rare.” Scarlet didn’t feel the odd suspicion she normally did, so she shut her eyes, realizing he was the first person she could trust in what felt like years. They all were. Briefly, before sleeping, she wondered if it included Nick.

When Claus closed his heavy metal door, reinforced with yet more steel, she woke up and looked around. They weren’t in the parking lot of a gas station or a house, or a hotel or any establishment at all.

She blinked, thinking he was going to the bathroom, but he reached into the back of the truck and fetched his rifle case.

“Where are we?” she asked upon exiting. Scarlet checked her own gear to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. Claus slowed his walking as he crept off the road into a forested area.

“Near the meeting place,” he said. Scarlet looked up and down the road, judging how often it was traveled, before she abandoned the truck and followed the tall man.

“I don’t understand,” she said, at his back. He picked his way along like a tracker, which was not so strange. Nothing he did was, except when put in the context of his awkward height. Her confusion stemmed from their earlier conversation with Maggie. They were supposed to meet at a cottage Bennet and Claus both knew of.

“We were all different sorts of people,” Claus said without turning around. “Before, I mean. Shaw was some sort of engineer,” he fumbled for the right word. “A specter was killing people at a plant where he worked. Maggie saved him. Now, he is what he is,” he said, stopping for a moment to decide on a direction. He crouched as he approached a large tree overturned in a storm. “Bennet was not good people. It isn’t his real name, either,” he added, somewhat ominously. He leaned against the tree, peeking off at a distant object. Scarlet squinted before kneeling near him. The place might have been a cottage.

“Not good people,” she repeated, watching him expertly combine the stock and the barrel. When he inched the weapon into view, he did so like a predator might enter a pool of water.

“He killed people,” Claus whispered, becoming still. “For money,” he said, while adjusting the scope for distance. Scarlet went inward for a moment, remembering the gray stone walls of her room at the monastery, where she and the others had lived for most of their lives.

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