Shadow Borne by Angie West Page A

not
at the bombshell I'd just unloaded on him but at a guess I'd have
had to say no. He didn't look overly traumatized at the prospect of
an army of mutated Coatyl running amok in Terlain, in the woods
around Grandview where damn near everyone we knew made their homes.
No cursing-and I knew for a fact that he'd picked up a few choice
additions to his vocabulary from hanging around me. No grimace, no
scowl. Just a grim stare and an even toned "what did it say to
you."
    Taking a step closer to Aranu, I was careful
to keep my voice low in case the Coatyl outside was close enough to
eavesdrop. "It–he–said the Lahuel sent him to kill me and write a
message in my blood telling Claire that she's next." This did
finally manage to elicit a visible reaction from Aranu.
    I watched his eyes narrow on the bag he
carried, as though he were wishing the Coatyl could be killed
twice; he suddenly looked like he would enjoy choking the already
dead creature. I knew the feeling. Looking around the trashed mess
that was now my house was starting to make me feel pretty
uncharitable, as well. Mentally I began to catalog the damage in
just the kitchen alone. The carpet was definitely ruined, never
mind that it had been the one thing I'd hated about my house. It
had at least been functional for the time being. Not anymore, I
sighed. The Coatyl blood would never come out.
    "Ari?"
    I brought my attention back to Aranu.
"Yes?"
    "Are you ready to leave?"
    "Yes."
    "You want to cross the fence, right?"
    I nodded and grabbed my bow and arrows on
the off chance the remaining Coatyl tried to ambush us once we got
outside. It wasn't a likely scenario though, especially if the
thing had been altered like the one Aranu now carried; it would be
smart enough to know Aranu and I against a lone Coatyl weren't good
odds for the Coatyl.
    "There was only one?" I bit my lip and
followed him out the ruined door.
    "That I saw. But you know there's never just
one. They're probably all over."
    "Maybe they're not all over." I mused as we
tromped the few feet to fence. "What if they don't travel in packs
anymore? Or what if they don't have to?"
    Aranu stealthily climbed over the fence,
waiting until I had safely joined him on the protected side before
speaking. "You mean what if they're smart enough to realize there
are times to hunt together but also that one or two are less easily
detected? That crowd mentality and brute force isn't the only way
to hunt?"
    "Exactly." I knelt on the grass and began to
lay out my change of clothes, along with the rag and jug of water
I'd taken from the cabin. "What if they're not even hunting
anymore?" I posed the question while Aranu tossed the burlap sack
to the ground and begun to untie the cords at the end of the bag.
"What if they're strategizing? What if they're organized?"
    He paused in the act of reaching into the
sack. "That would certainly change things." he murmured, taking
care to loosen the knot on the black plastic garbage bag that
contained the Coatyl.
    "You're telling me." I muttered. "Let's just
hope there aren't hundreds of the things running around. Turn
around." I ordered. "I need to wash and change." Sure, the other
Coatyl was out there somewhere–and we would be lucky if that was
the only thing watching–but there wasn't anything I could do about
it. No way was I wearing bloody clothes all night.
    Aranu immediately shifted his position to
show me his back and I began the disgusting process of removing the
sticky garments, easing the shirt slowly over my head and knowing I
was getting a little blood in my hair anyway. The front of the
shirt was so wet that even folding the cloth over didn't help
much.
    Once I'd stripped everything off, I poured a
liberal amount of water onto one of the rags and proceeded to scrub
most of the grime from my skin and hair. Once that was done, I used
the second, smaller rag to dry off; I was slipping a clean black
v-neck top over my head and twisting my thick hair into a knot at
the back