Her Perilous Wolf, Julie Steimle [howl and other poems TXT] 📗

“Oh. This. Um, it’s a fire stone.”

“A what?”

Holding it up, Michael explained. “It looks like a flame spinel with a star inclusion. It was a gift from my friend Eddie—another in the Seven. Each one of us have one.”

“Like a club pin?” Vincent reached out and examined the crystal. The star inclusion made it look like it had an internal fire.

“No.” Michael laughed. “As protection. It’s magic.”

He tugged it from Vincent’s fingers and wrapped his left hand over it, holding out his burned hand. A flame plumed out from the center, much more powerful than before.

“Swift is the expert at using it, but all of us can manipulate this fire if ever we run out of weapons.” He let the flames lick all over his fingers as if they were candle wicks. The fire itself had a purple tinge to it.

“Swift?” Vincent was not sure who that was.

“Daniel Smith. Silvia’s brother?” Michael then turned for them to leave. “We can pick up this tomorrow. How about we meet for lunch at the office? We can get a private room where no one can listen in.”

Vincent nodded, but could already anticipate how painful this was going to be. He realized that there was too much information. He was going to be overloaded.

“Why don’t we just make a handbook or something to help him out?” Tommy suggested. “Take a copy of our official handbook?”

Michael cringed, shaking his head. “No copies. And I don’t like the SRA’s handbook. It’s too prejudiced.”

“Then we make our own,” Tommy suggested with a nod to Vincent. “In collaboration with the Seven, of course. We could even have links to useful websites—like Anonymous Wolf’s.”

“Anonymous Wolf?” Vincent perked up.

Michael nodded. “Yeah. Howie has his own blog. He goes by Anonymous_Wolf there and posts all things about werewolves for people in trouble. Even the SRA uses it—though they eventually figured out Howie had made it.”

“Rick has a blog about werewolves?” That made Vincent dizzy. It was surreal.

“Why not?” Michal lifted his hands in exasperation. “He has a computer and he can type. Besides, despite all his faults, he wants to help people. He wants to protect the innocent, which I think is a noble cause.”

Tommy wrapped an arm around Vincent’s shoulders, the weight of it rather heavy. Navajo who had just been a raccoon said, “Come on. You’re tired. We’re tired. We’ll take you back to your hotel so you can get some rest for tomorrow.”

“And we’ll make a handbook,” Vincent murmured dizzily.

Michael grinned. “Hey! Think of it this way. It will be our first joint venture.”

Vincent raised his eyebrows. “The Bruchenhaus connection does not bother you?”

Grinning wider, Michael said, “Think of it as a test run.”

Nodding, Vincent let Tommy steer him to his car, where the man made him slide down in his seat as he drove. The man safely deposited Vincent at his hotel—unfollowed. As Vincent went in, he realized that if he had gone with Michael, it was possible someone would have trailed behind them—as Michael seemed to be under watch. He considered that it was also possible that Michael was regarded just as dangerous by the SRA as all those other ‘monsters’ they were tracking. The difference was, there was no way they would post his goings-on on their website.

*

They went on to Kenya the following morning. Juma did not say a word about their conversation from the evening before. Instead he talked about the friends he was going to introduce Audry and the others to. Akachi knew them.

“They are members of the Africa Wildlife Foundation,” Akachi explained as Darth crawled across his lap to look over the other side of the jeep while they rumbled over dirt road. “They have been tracking a Chinese smuggling operation.”

“Chinese?” Audry muttered, feeling sick over that. To be honest, with the way international relations were between the US and China, she just did not want to get involved. Not only would they hate her on sight just for being an American, but she would be the one accused of racism simply because she was ‘white’. But poaching was poaching. She could not stay out of it. Akachi and Juma reassured her that these people did not care about animals. It was all about the money. She had every reason to feel indignant.

When they had crossed the Kenyan border, showing their documents to the border guards, the guards spent most of their time examining Audry’s papers and passport. They also asked about their business and the dogs. However, they were soon allowed in—their business important, and legal.

They pulled into a small town not far from the border, seeking out a fuel station. Audry hopped out with Darth to fetch fresh water, while Akachi started negotiations with locals for foodstuff and directions to the next town or village. Juma went to see if Sefu or Luis had plenty of fuel. They let out the three dogs to run around, all three with too much energy, and anxious to be running. Audry noticed the dogs had been following her most of the trip, which was different from last time. Juma had joked about it at first, saying they clearly had missed her, but now Akachi suggested that they could probably smell that werewolf on her. Despite that, the dogs were not hostile about it. More like curious.

As soon as they loaded up again, their group was back on the road. It took most of the day, but they eventually stopped at the town where Juma said his Kenyan friends would meet them. By that time it was well after four pm. They met all together at a local café.

“These are my old friends, Joram Mwangi and Dennis Gathii.” Juma grinned widely, extending an arm toward Audry with pride. To them, he said, “This is my very dear friend Audry Bruchenhaus.”

Joram and Dennis were robust, modern African men, both wearing matching shirts—probably a company uniform, as their pants were only slightly different and there was an insignia on their breast pockets. Joram’s head was round and meaty with a smile like rows of pearls, but Dennis had a more rectangular face and a more blockish grin with front tooth gap. Dennis was also growing a thin beard—the kind Audry imagined on the superhero Black Panther… though Dennis probably grew one because of the movie. It seemed to be trendy. She had seen a lot of modern men with that beard.

Behind them were two women also in the same uniform, looking like fellow rangers, and a man. The women’s hair was short, but one wore a colorful headband and dangling earrings. However, they regarded Audry with a degree of skepticism. Their eyes were saying ‘Why is this white woman here in Africa trying to do our job?’ Audry decided to pretend she did not see it.

“This is Mercy Akinyi and Winnie Naserina,” Juma then said, grinning more. “They are coming with us, but not to do any poacher hunting.”

“Usually they are office staff,” Joram explained with the hint that he thought it was weird that they were insisting on coming on this excursion. And glancing at their shoes, which were hardly scuffed at all, Audry could see they did not often go out on field work.

“It is not right for one woman to be alone with so many men,” Winnie reasoned with a nod to Audry, as if she were doing her a favor. However, there was judgement in her tone. “We will make that right for you.”

Mercy shot Juma a fond look, one which Juma seemed to miss. It struck Audry then that Mercy was majorly crushing on Juma, and Winnie was standing in solidarity with her. She wondered if they knew Juma had already proposed to her dozens of times and was even now waiting for her response. She hoped not. In a way, she thought it was a shame Juma did not noticed Mercy’s affection for him. It would ease up the pressure on her.

“And this is Hezzy Omwancha,” Dennis said to Audry, grinning fondly as he pointed to the man like he was sharing his favorite toy. “He is a decent marksman and the strongest of our group.”

Strongest? No kidding. The man was huge, towering over them all like a grizzly bear. Hezzy waved at Audry, grinning. The dogs rushed up to him, barking and licking him with utter glee. It was funny to watch. He stooped down and greeted them with hugs and pats—a gentle giant, which made Audry smile wider. He reminded her of Bobo, though broader in the chest and arms. If anything, Hezzy gave off the same kind of impression or aura that Bobo had. He clearly did not like to hurt people or things, but if he needed to, he could. 

The dogs ran back to Audry, running around her in approval. For a second it felt like they were saying if she wanted protection, Hezzy was it.

“You are good with animals,” Hezzy said with a cheerful accent. “They instinctively like you.”

She shrugged, petting Darth then Mixie’s and Brutus’s heads. “Well, I’m fond of dogs.” Yet her mind added ‘wolves’. “But uh, I prefer to rescue than hunt. And I’m a vegan.”

He laughed, nodding with a look to Juma who was eyeing him a little as if Hezzy might be competition. “You and I are going to get on well. I am trying to be a vegetarian.”

His Kenyan friends rolled their eyes. It looked like some sort of inside joke. She got the feeling that Hezzy was far from a vegetarian, but was clearly entertaining the idea.

“We are already packed,” Joram said, gesturing to their small green safari bus. “We’ve heard rumors of a poachers’ graveyard not far from here. We want to start there then use the dogs to track them.

Juma and Sefu nodded, gesturing for them to follow Joram’s group. He reached out for Audry to join them. Mercy’s and Winnie’s eyes followed Audry as she went back with Juma to their jeep. Once all of them were well loaded, they took off toward the thicker foliage, riding away from the plains.

When the jungle became too thick and they reached the edge of the road, they pulled off the side of the path, gathered up their guns and hiking equipment. They covered the vehicles, first with camouflage netting, and then with local shrubs they hacked off. Joram led the way, though they sent the dogs to run ahead to sniff out anything dead or dying.

“How long have you been doing this?” Dennis asked Audry as she kept her rifle in her hands, her eyes raking the area, prepared for any confrontation.

“Animal rescue? Or stopping poachers?” Audry asked, listening to the sounds of the jungle. She detected an off scent and thought she had heard a lion. Something in the lion’s low rumbled roar did not sound right. Wounded, she thought. That would make it dangerous.

“Stopping poachers,” Dennis said, shaking his head while stepping over a fallen branch. “Most women do not do this.”

Audry nodded resignedly to herself. She often came across these stereotypes in the field. It was more cultural than an insult. She had long learned to be patient with people who simply had grown up differently from her. “Well, I am not most women—”

She heard a chuff from Mercy. Glancing back, she spotted that dirty look from those two women again. This time they were not hiding it. All over their faces was resentment. They did not want her there. Not in Kenya. Not in Africa.

That unusual scent was getting stronger.

Brutus rushed back with Mixie and Darth on his tail. They were barking as they made a loop around their group then ran ahead again.

“This way.” Juma pointed into the foliage, rushing after the dogs.

Audry quickly followed, preparing for the worst.

Weapons high, following the dogs, the group eventually stumbled upon a huge graveyard full of rotting corpses of elephants who have been slaughtered. The stench was awful, but a lot of them were freshly killed.

Audry slung back her rifle and pulled