Knowledge was perhaps the greatest gift age had bestowed to Olympia. She knew most everything about everything. Old eyes see much, she would say many times as she quoted her father whom she believed to have been the wisest and strongest witch she’d ever known. Then again, most families think that of those that came before them. Olympia suspected her children and grandchildren thought her to be the wisest and most powerful witch that ever lived—which was flatteringly untrue. This was why Demitra came into her room at the break of morning to sit on the edge of her mother’s bed.
“Tell me child,” Olympia said, adjusting her eyes to the morning light penetrating the window sheers. “What has you stirring so early?”
“Does anything have to be wrong for me to come sit with my mother?”
“Frankly, yes,” Olympia yawned. “Morning only finds you in here when you are troubled.”
Demitra pushed a few strands of her mother’s hair out of her face and said, “You are right as always.”
Olympia moved over in the bed and patted the covers for Demitra to sit down beside her. Demitra did so as Olympia took her by the hand.
“Tell Mother what has you so unsettled?”
Demitra climbed under the covers to nestle into the other pillow beside Olympia. She looked into her mother’s ancient eyes which were contrasted by her nearly ageless face.
“The killer who has been in the news. Charlie Bennet asked me to meet him at the latest crime scene the other day. It was awful.”
“You’re working on another case for the police department?”
“Mother, his face was torn. His leg was broken. His head almost ripped off. I still can’t shake the images.”
Olympia kissed her head. “Have you had any visions that might help solve the case?”
“I did. But Charlie doesn’t believe me. It’s a werewolf, I think.”
Olympia did not act surprised or skeptical. She knew her daughter too well to doubt her opinions and her old eyes had seen much in their day—too much to question the validity of Demitra’s findings.
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“Can you describe his human form?” Olympia asked.
“I haven’t seen his human form. I don’t really know how to help. And the police can’t really go on what I say. They’re looking for a man, not a monster.”
“You can’t force anyone to believe you. Most people are blind to what is really out there in this world which is why it takes people like us to protect the rest. Nothing happens without a reason. You are supposed to stop this.”
“How?”
Olympia squeezed her arm around her daughter’s shoulder. She felt sympathy for Demitra’s situation. Olympia knew all too well how frustrating it is when you know a truth no one else can understand. “The how I cannot help you with, Demitra. But other people are going to die until this beast is caught.”
Demitra sighed, “I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Begin at the beginning,” Olympia advised.
Demitra shot her a challenging glance, “I went to one of the prior crime scenes, but the trace was faded or nonexistent.”
“Ask yourself this my dear,” Olympia smiled. “Where did this wolf come from? Was Daihmler the true beginning?”
Demitra sat up. “Oh my God, you’re right. It’s so clear. He had to originate somewhere. If he had been here all along, we would have far more murders. He is not from here. I just have to find the trail.”
Demitra spent the entire day at the computer in the den. First, she checked databases, with the use of Charlie’s passcodes. She found writeups of a similar killing from Florence, Alabama the month before. North. He came from the north. She checked databases in Louisiana but found nothing resembling the Daihmler and Florence killings. Next, she checked Tennessee and discovered two murders fitting the profile in Chattanooga. She found evidence by day’s end of a dozen killings stretching across the map. She found Charlie Bennet at his desk midafternoon eating a turkey on rye when she barged through his door unannounced. She slammed her papers on his desk beside the sandwich.
“Eight murders before these four in Daihmler. All during nights with a full moon.” she said pointing to the map where she’d circled the cities. “In Kentucky they called it a mountain lion. In Indiana it was a bear. In Iowa, they called it a Devil Cult. In Wisconsin, they dismissed it as a brutal robbery. But it is all the same guy. The same circumstances.”
“How did you—”
“By beginning at the beginning. This is not a local Daihmlerian who just snapped and started killing people. He’s from out of state.”
“That’s not much help,” Charlie scoffed.
“Really?” Demitra snapped. “Because I think I just eliminated the entire natural population of this town as suspects. Check credit card records and see who has been passing through all these towns. Even a werewolf needs a hotel room and a square meal on nights when the moon isn’t full.”
“So, he’s moving south,” Charlie said looking at her map.
“Wrong,” Demitra said. “He’s already where he wanted to go. Four murders in Daihmler. That is at least two more than anywhere else. He has been here for two months. He is already where he set out to get to. He meant to come to Daihmler. We just need to find out why.”
Who do you think is the wolf?
