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He swung into step beside me. “Is it possible it was just passing through?”
“Possible, but unlikely,” Monty said. “We believe it was called here with the aim of keeping us and the rangers occupied.”
Rocco nodded. “Aiden mentioned the new vampire in his recent update. I warned the council it was a grave mistake to let Maelle back in, but I was outvoted.”
I glanced at him, surprised. “Maelle caused no problems until my psycho ex came on to the scene.”
He grimaced. “I don’t believe any predator can coexist with its prey for any length of time without problems arising.”
“Werewolves are predators,” Monty pointed out.
Rocco’s snort was contemptuous. “Aside from the occasional rogue, we’ve never considered humans prey. Hollywood and literature are responsible for that belief, not our actions.”
“Then why sign the agreement allowing her to set up business here in the first place?” Monty asked.
“Idid not. Again, I was overruled.” He half shrugged. “I grant that her venue provided the reservation with a sorely needed nightclub and has become a tourist attraction. I just fear the eventual cost.”
I rather suspected hewasn’treferring to the current situation.
Silence fell as the incline steepened, although it was only us witches who struggled. Rocco wasn’t even breathing heavily, and he certainly wasn’t sweating.
As the hints of a storm-clad sky became more visible through the leafy canopy lining the mountain’s crest above us, we found death.
This time it was a werewolf, in wolf form. Her teeth were bared, her body twisted, suggesting she’d been trying to turn away from the basilisk when she’d somehow caught its gaze.
“Ah, fuck.” Rocco stopped abruptly. “It’s Suzanne.”
I glanced at him sharply. “How can you tell?”
“Aside from the fact she was on patrol in this area, the scar on her cheek.” He scrubbed a hand across his bristly chin. “Do you know why she remains in wolf form? Death usually triggers the change back.”
“It might have something to do with being frozen.” Monty stepped past me and approached the woman, taking care to avoid anything that might be considered evidence. Not that there was a lot more than the woman and dying foliage. “Belle, are you sensing a soul this time?”
She hesitated, gaze narrowing slightly. “No, but that might simply mean her death was ordained and she moved on quickly.”
Monty squatted in front of Suzanne and frowned. “Well, there’s at least one major difference between this death and the first—unlike John, her eyes aren’t burned out. There’s a bit of opaqueness in one half of her left eye, but that’s it.”
“Maybe she didn’t catch its full gaze,” I said.
He glanced at me. “If that’s the case, why was she frozen?”
“Are you sure she’s actually dead?” Belle asked. “Has she still got a pulse?”
“I don’t know enough about wolf anatomy to check that.” He glanced at Rocco. “Can you?”
Rocco stepped forward and placed his middle and index finger just behind her left elbow, close to her ribs.
“Thereisa pulse, but it’s slow and irregular.” He stepped back and grabbed his phone. “I’ll call an ambulance—what’s her breathing like?”
Monty raised a hand, placing it close to her mouth. “Barely there. Tell them to hurry.”
As Rocco nodded and moved away to make the call, I said, “How the hell is she even alive? There’s nothing in the mythology that suggests that’s possible, is there?”
“Not as far as I’m aware,” he replied. “But, again, we know so little about them. Perhaps her saving grace was the fact she only partially caught its gaze.”
“Surely it would be aware of that, though,” Belle said. “So why wouldn’t it finish her off? Why leave her like this?”
“Why did it leave the other victim?”
