Winter Prey

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Caleb and Hjak re-entered the cabin, but Kymbria didn't bother to look up from her cooling cup of chocolate. She heard Caleb remove the fire screen and add a couple logs to the fire while Hjak slowly walked into the kitchen where she waited. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the sheriff glance at the two shotguns she'd carried in and placed on the table. They lay beside the hot chocolate cups she'd re-warmed for the men. Though fearful of what Hjak had to tell her, given the man's obvious reluctance to speak, she managed to maintain a measure of self-control. She would be out of here in a few hours. She could cope for that long.

"Do you know who it is?" she quietly asked Hjak as he removed his gloves and washed his hands at the kitchen sink.

"Yeah." He dried his hands on a towel hanging beneath the window. "I'll take the guns in by the fire, if you'll carry my cocoa."

She rose with a nod. Leaving her cold, congealed cup on the table, she joined Caleb, who was closing the fire screen. Scarlet followed close behind her, settling on the floor in front of Kymbria as she and Caleb sat on the sofa. Kymbria handed Caleb one cup and set the other one on the coffee table for Hjak.

The sheriff propped the shotguns against the coffee table, but didn't reach for his cup. "The windigo didn't kill him," he said without preamble. "Someone shot him first."

Caleb flinched, an expression of both puzzlement and interest on his face.

"Who is he?" Kymbria asked again.

Caleb moved closer to her and slipped an arm around her shoulders as dread edged up her throat. "It's someone I know, isn't it?" she asked when Hjak remained silent.

Caleb tightened his grip, and when she glanced at him, he said, "It's Len. The missing man Keoman called about."

Sorrow filled her at the loss of a man her parents had befriended as much as counted on. She allowed the emotion only so far, though. She'd come to terms with a few things while she waited for Caleb and Hjak to return. This beast was not only scaring her, but Scarlet as well, and it was starting to piss her off. She'd latched onto the anger, determined to ride it rather than the pathetic fear.

Despite Caleb and Hjak's concern, her mental clarity was focused now, and she reminded herself that she'd seen death up close and personal before. She wasn't going to let this monster continue to terrorize her. And it damned sure wasn't going to get away with controlling her mind.

Then she frowned. "But...." She stared at Hjak. "Keoman said Len's been missing for three days. And..." She paused as she recalled the tribal custom of not speaking the name of the dead until they were sure the soul had crossed into the world where ancestors dwelled. Then she firmed her voice. "A while ago, Caleb said the man had been...eaten. The windigo's only been on the hunt for a day."

"For a day that we know of," Hjak said as he reached for his cocoa. "Things aren't fitting into this scenario." He scooped a glob of marshmallows to his mouth.

"Don't you need to call some more people in?" Caleb asked.

Recalling Caleb's caution that they would soon be talking to a number of people, Kymbria started to explain why that might not happen. She was cut short when Scarlet suddenly rose with a growl, her gaze toward the lake. But instead of rushing for the window, she lunged onto the sofa beside Kymbria. A cold chill of goose bumps feathered up Kymbria's spine as she grabbed Scarlet close.

"It's back!" she snarled, her anger rising again to defeat the fear.

Caleb already had one of the shotguns in his hand. He thrust the other one at her, and he and Hjak raced to the front windows. Kymbria steeled herself for another mind intrusion, but the atmosphere around her and Scarlet only darkened for a brief instant, then it was like nothing at all was wrong.