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“It is a horrible thing to view the eyes of a friend in the face of a beast. This I have seen many, many times. Right before I shoot them in the head.”
Matt winced. Ashleigh might have been annoying, but he didn’t want her dead. And Mel—Mel was fun.
“Isn’t there another way?”
“To kill them?” Mandenauer sounded confused.
“Than killing them. Can’t we cure them?”
“Of course.”
Matt rubbed his face. Was the old man trying to make him insane?
“However, the cure is … singular. One-on-one. It takes time and must be applied physically, which can cause problems.”
Like the one applying the cure getting his or her throat torn out? Matt could understand how that might be a problem.
“Sometimes it is best just to shoot them.”
“How about if we try and cure them, and if there’s a problem, then we shoot them?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Mandenauer agreed; the modern phrase sounded very odd when spoken with his old-world accent.
“And the Nahual?” Matt continued. “Can he be cured?”
“No. The Nahual was not bitten; he was born. He is, for all intents and purposes, a god. He is evil on both sides of the moon. That cannot be cured.”
Desperation tore at Matt, as sharp as the claws of those beasts outside. But he swallowed, striving for a calm he didn’t feel. “Then what do we do?”
“Reconfine him.”
“I thought no one knew how.”
“No one alive,” Mandenauer agreed.
Matt blinked. “What?”
“I will talk to my people. As the Nahual was imprisoned, seemingly for eternity, I have not pressed the issue. But now we must.”
“How many people do you have?” Matt asked.
“Less than I need. They tend to die on me.”
“I can imagine,” Matt muttered. He had a feeling monster hunters died often and badly. If Mandenauer had lasted this long he must be the best of the best, which was exactly what they needed. “Can you come to Nahua Springs Ranch?”
“My boy, I am already on my way.”
Quickly they exchanged cell-phone numbers. Matt thought the old man had hung up, but Edward had one last piece of advice: “Be careful. A sorcerer can do most anything.”
Matt stood with the phone still in his hand as the implications of the conversation washed over him.
They not only had werewolves, but they also had a shape-shifting Aztec sorcerer intent on creating more of them. And the man Matt had just spoken to was a monster hunter. Which meant there were a lot more monsters than these in the world.
The phone began to squawk, and Matt replaced it in the cradle. But he didn’t return to the living room. He needed to get his mind right.
How was he going to explain this to the others?
Pretty much the same way it was explained to him. Matter-of-factly. They’d already seen the evidence. It was standing out in the yard.
