Page 22 of Maneater

“How come?”

He barks out a laugh. “Are you kidding? We didn’t want the kids making fun of us, or our parents finding out we’d been tramping through the woods in the middle of the night.”

I sit back in my chair. Between my promise to Rex and the fear of being ridiculed, I doubt I’ll ever tell anyone either.

“So, you haven’t said anything to anyone until now?”

His eyes turn misty. “I told my wife, because I knew she’d believe me. And she never would’ve teased me about my experience.” He sniffs. “I sure do miss her.”

“She’s…you guys aren’t together anymore?”

He offers me a faint smile. “I lost Becky close to five years ago. She got sick but went quickly. Love of my life, she was.”

“I’m so sorry.” I don’t want to ask for more details. “Thank you for telling me what happened. Gives me a lot to think about.”

“You think what you saw today was mine and Tommy’s beast?”

I wince. “Sure sounds like it. It’s kind of scary that it was roaming around in the daytime like that.”

Virgil nods. “I will say that it’s a bit odd. I’ve never heard any Howler tales where one was seen during the day.”

We sit in silence a moment while Virgil finishes his abandoned sandwich. Then he stretches and yawns. “Welp. Time for me to get a move on.” He chuckles as he rises. “Hope I didn’t scare you more than you already were.”

I smile up at him. “Not at all. At least I know I haven’t lost my mind.” I wrap up my food to bring to my room. I have a mini fridge, so I’ll save it for later. “But I think I’ll do some Internet sleuthing tonight, see if I can learn more about it.”

Virigl laughs again. “Just don’t scare yourself so bad you’re up all night!”

I let out a shaky laugh. “I’ll do my best.”

After he leaves, I go to my room, excited to start digging into Howler legends. But I’ve already got my mind made up about something. I’m going to pester Rex until he tells me all he knows.

I’m not giving up until I discover what he’s hiding.

Chapter Eight

Rex

A few days have passed since the little incident with Darien, which I’ve decided wasn’t so little. The more I mull it over, the more concerned I become. Sure, Darien promised he wouldn’t breathe a word about what he saw. Plus, people have been ridiculed for decades over claims of Howler sightings. Half the time, they can’t even get the description right.

My gut clenches. Darien did a pretty good job describing me, though.

I finish chopping up some parsley and add them to some mixed greens. Clover loves arugula the best, but I always make sure she gets a good mix.

The meat pies that I make for Winston and my fox Chester are almost done baking, but I’ll have to leave them out to cool. Out means in a locked cupboard. Otherwise, the entire crew would be tearing into them.

Since my menagerie can come and go as they please, it means no food item is safe. As it is, Winston is a little crumb whore and scours the premises for minuscule flecks of food whenever I’m not around.

I shuffle around the kitchen, putting the salad mix into portioned containers, wiping down the counters, and rinsing off the dishes and utensils. Making food for carnivores who reside with herbivores that are in their food chain is a true challenge. We’ve worked out an agreement so everyone could co-exist, but bobcat Zed is definitely my problem child.

The grumbling over not getting any squirrel or rabbit meat anymore is a recurring theme. He argues that chicken just isn’t the same, and I argue that Clover has a fuckton of relatives in the forest.

I finish the last of my chores, no longer able to put off facing the day. Glancing at the laptop, I wonder whether I should shoot off a message to Boone. The Monster Network wi-fi is the only signal going in and out of the cave, and it’s mega-protected by all kinds of high-level spells. I can’t even begin to imagine the shit show we’d have if we ever got hacked.

I shake my head.

No. This is my problem to work through. If I get into a real jam, then I can bring him into the loop. I’m probably stressing out over nothing, though. I’ve made myself scarce the past couple of days in case Darien stopped by the inn or called. My instincts were right on. Darien hasn’t paid a visit, but Gavin told me he left a couple of messages.

I still haven’t looked at them. And I certainly haven’t called him back.