My Words My Stories

One of the pillars on which this strategy was attempted to be sustained was, precisely, the idea that Russia must have a strong State, since it is fundamental not only for the development and well-being of the country but also for its repositioning on a global scale.8. As a complement to this position – although in line with a trend that was experienced worldwide – a conservative vision of the world and society developed, manifested in growing homophobia and xenophobia in public discourse and in the reinforcement of the roles of traditional gender, the latter in an increasingly closer alliance with the Orthodox Church.

Laws that sanction the “propaganda of non-traditional relationships” (the euphemism chosen to refer to homosexuality) are the most visible consequence of this.9. At the same time, and in relation to the above, an anti-Western Phone Number List in general and anti-American in particular was disseminated from the government, which aimed both at highlighting Russia's role as guardian of universal traditional values ​​that a decadent West had forgotten or perverted - as would be demonstrated there by the expansion of rights of the LGBTI community – as well as putting a stop to the constant threats of advance by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) on the post-Soviet space.



The annexation of Crimea in 2014 was, perhaps, the most drastic consequence of this latest diagnosis10. The area where this tendency was most evident was a space as sensitive as History, where similar doses of propaganda and control were combined from the State.

Videos for YouTube? I read you in comments. And if you ne help with your YouTube channel, you can fill out the form of my service. For social networks and I'll tell you how I can help you. Working on TikTok despite what many people think. Takes a lot of time: thinking about the content, researching trends. Developing ideas for the content, recording it, iting it, selecting the right hashtags, publishing the content, interacting . places on the Internet that interest you. Are you interest in what you are reading. If you want to learn more about the world of Social Networks and Digital Marketing. 

The image may be pixelat Phone Number List or freeze, or the live broadcast may directly end before you finish. Make sure you are in a location that has a good internet connection. A microphone Sound is quite important, so  handy to use it. It is not necessary to invest in a microphone, especially if you are going to do live shows occasionally, with a microphone like the one incorporat into the mobile headphones itself is enough. good lighting The image is also quite important, so look for a source of lighting, either natural.



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Planning developing studying and transferring are the watchwords Pretend for a moment that your website is a  real person. A commercial. salesperson. Let s pretend that this salesman is outside the field distributing your product or service to potential customers... and communicating data and statistics related to two years ago.

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Mary Beth smiled and nodded. “Then I'll just stay at your house until morning.” She chuckled at his shocked expression. “I wish I had a camera, Foxx. Your mother has an empty room, doesn't she? I can just stay there until daylight, then make my own way home. But I'll see you to your door tonight, Foxx Calhoun. And you'll be safer for it.”
Foxx let her lead him away from the village and toward home. He finally stopped walking and shook his head. Resetting his newsboy cap and adjusting his long scarf, he smiled at her. “You're an amazing woman, Mary Elizabeth O'Dell. An amazing woman. If you weren't so dead set on marrying, I'd talk you right out of your clothes tonight in my own room.”
She smiled back and wrapped her arms around him for a short spell, then took a step back. “It's cold, Foxx and you've had a shock of some sort. We should keep walking. Do you want to tell me what happened to you? Or is that something that you'd rather not talk about?”
Foxx turned his gaze to Mary Beth and sighed. “I really don't know how to explain what happened to me. I lost total blocks of time tonight and I have no reasonable explanation as to why. Not to mention trying to beat Jimeson to death with my mug. Today was just a very strange day.”
Mary Beth nodded and slipped her arm through his as they continued to walk. “I'm a good listener, Foxx. And it sounds to me like you need a listener. Maybe even a good friend or two, while you're at it.”
Foxx gave her a sidelong glance and sighed again. “You amaze me, woman. I could use someone with a new set of eyes. Would you...would you consider going to Dublin with me tomorrow, Mary Beth? I want to go to the library there and look up some stuff on the legend of our Dance. I could use some fresh eyes on this. I'll tell you about my very strange day, if you'll agree to not laugh and to help me figure this out.”
Mary Beth nodded. “Okay, I can promise you I won't laugh. And I can give you all the help you need on this whatever it is.” She paused and furrowed her brow in thought. “It's legal, isn't it? I mean, we won't be doing anything that will cause my arrest, will we?”
Fox laughed and pulled her into a sideways hug. “By going to Dublin to get information from the library? I hardly doubt that would end in your arrest, unless it's against the law to do research.”
As they neared Foxx's gate, Mary Beth shivered. Foxx cast a glance at her. “Something wrong?” She shook her head. “I don't think so. But I can't say for certain, Foxx. Is your mother ill?”
He stared at the woman with him for a long moment before he responded. “No. She's fine. She was baking for the ceili when I left. Why do you ask. Mary Beth?”
The woman didn't answer him right away, she just started for the gate. “I think we need to hurry, Foxx. I think we need to hurry and get the information as soon as possible. We should leave as early in the morning as we can. I think there are lives depending on us finding that information.”
Foxx hurried after her, his brow furrowed, his eyes full of concern. He'd never seen Mary Beth so agitated. He nearly had to run to keep up with her, then get ahead of her to open the door. He headed for the kitchen, where he thought his mother would be. He peered in the door and smiled.
“Ma? I'm home and brought Mary Beth with me.” The woman was standing at the stove and didn't turn right away. When she finally did, she smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. Foxx thought she may be getting tired, so he nodded to the kettle. “I'll fix tea. Why don't you go and sit with Mary Beth while I do this?”
She nodded and reached her hand to caress his cheek. Foxx shivered at the coldness of her skin and he looked at her, confusion filling his eyes. “Are you okay? You look strange. Are you having pain?”
The woman shook her head. “No, Foxx. I think I just need to sit down, you're right. I'll go and sit with Mary Beth. Why is she here? Did you tell me? Is she okay and her family?”
Foxx nodded at his mother. “She's fine. She's staying here tonight so we can go into Dublin in the morning. We have some things to do there.” For some unexplained reason, Foxx felt as though he couldn't tell his mother why they were going to Dublin. He shivered as ice crawled down his spine and thought again about letting Mary Beth sleep in the guest room alone.
He lifted the kettle and was pleased to find it full of water. He turned on the heat, gathered the cups, tea, sugar and cream, placed them on the tray and carried it into the dining room. He smiled at Mary Beth and placed the tray on the table. “Water will be hot soon. Should I get scones or biscuits?”
Mary Beth smiled and nodded. “Either one will do well enough, Foxx. I've not had anything to eat since the mid-day meal.”
Foxx frowned and went back to the kitchen. He took soda bread from the bin and sliced thick slices, got ham, beef and cheese from the refrigerator, placing that on a tray with condiments, put scones, butter and sweet biscuits on a plate then on the tray and carried it all into the dining room again.
“You have to eat, Mary Beth. Please.” He removed the items from the tray and placed them on the table in front of her, before he turned to his mother. “Do you want something to eat? I'll make you a sandwich, if you want.”
She smiled at him. “What a good boy you are, Foxx. Thank you. That would be nice.”
Foxx studied his mother intently, not sure what was wrong with her, but there was something. He pondered having Mrs. Kelly from next door come and stay with her tomorrow, but changed his mind. There was something he couldn't put his finger on that was making him uneasy in his own home and with his own mother.
He made her a small sandwich, knowing they had high tea and she wouldn't be wanting more than that. He put that and two scones on her plate, then turned back to Mary Beth. She was watching his mother more intently than he was.
“Mary Beth....” She looked at him and he drew a breath, but before he could speak, she reached to take his hand. “I don't want to be alone, tonight, Foxx. Please don't leave me alone.” She glanced again at Foxx's mother the same time Foxx did. The woman was staring at both of them and grinning with what appeared to be demented glee.
The kettle whistled and he stood to get the water. He all but ran to the kitchen and ran back. He poured hot water into the pot, then settled the tea leaves inside to steep. Something not right. Something wild and feral and vicious seemed to be circling the room, and it gave Foxx the sense of unsure footing on an icy walk.
What was happening here? What was wrong with his mother? He poured tea and finally sat as close to Mary Beth as he could. “Mum. Are you alright?” The woman turned her head, blinked and smiled. “Of course I'm all right, dear. Why wouldn't I be?”
Foxx felt something inside his mind click and he nodded. “Eat your sandwich, Mother. I'll take Mary Beth up to her room.” Before either woman could protest, Foxx had pulled Mary Beth to her feet and led her from the room. Once they were upstairs, Foxx took her into his room.
“Stay here, Mary Beth. There's something not exactly right here tonight and I agree with you. The sooner we find out what we can, the better off we'll be. We'll leave at first light. Do you want anything right now? I can go back down and get the sandwich if you're hungry?”
Mary Beth shook her head. “No, Foxx. Please. Don't leave me alone for a minute. I don't know what's going on in this house, but I think once we're out of here in the morning, it would behove you to not return until this is settled. I'd kill for tea, but it will just have to wait until morning. Saints protect and preserve us, Foxx. I think we're caught up in something terribly evil and your mother is part of it.”
As bad as that sounded, Foxx had to agree. His mother was acting strangely and he had no explanation for it. He settled Mary Beth in his bed and made sure she was comfortable in his old robe and warm enough, then he took the chair and made himself as comfortable as he could. As much as he thought about Mary Beth in 'that' way, he felt that tonight wasn't the night for sexual advances. He had decided he needed her help and he didn't need her angry with him right now.
He gave his bed over to her and pulled up the overstuffed chair for himself. When she started to protest, he shook his head. “No,” he said firmly. “You take the bed. It's bad enough I've kidnapped you from the comfort of your own home. I won't deny you the comfort of a bed as well. Good night, Mary Beth. We'll talk in the morning.”

Chapter III

   Foxx was awake before the dawn, cleaned up and dressed, ready for the day. He sat back down in the chair he had vacated and watched Mary Beth as she slept. He would have to disturb her and wake her soon, but he wanted to give her as much sleep as he could.
   As he sat, he pondered everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. He would have to research the legend and how it came to be. And he hoped that he would find information on the woman he had seen and actually spoken to yesterday.   
   With a sigh, he leaned forward and touched Mary Beth's shoulder. “Mary Beth. Time to wake up. We need to be on our way shortly.”
   She snapped awake and stared at him for a moment, then smiled as recognition came into her eyes. “Foxx. Why did you let me sleep like this? I could have gotten up and been ready when you were.”
   Foxx shook his head. “You needed to rest. You were up late and had quite an experience yesterday. The bath is through that door”, nodding to his left. “You go on and get ready, I'm going down to make tea. We can put it in an insulated flask and take it along with us.”
   He rose and started for the door, then stopped and turned back to her. “Mary Beth. Thanks for coming along with me and believing in my nonsense. I appreciate your help in more ways than you'll know.”
   She smiled over her shoulder at him and nodded as she headed for the bath. She'd have to wear what she had the day before for now, but perhaps they could take the time to stop and she could change. She would ask him when she went down.
   She gathered her things to get ready to take a hot shower then jerked as she turned to see Foxx's mother standing in the open door. The woman smiled, but there was a wicked gleam in her eye.
   “You'll help him die.” The strange voice came from the woman in the doorway. “And you'll die with him.”
   Then the little woman's demeanor changed and the smile was sweet. “Mary Elizabeth. I didn't know you stayed. Come down for tea, dear.”
   Mary Beth could only nod. “After I have a shower. I'll be down in a few, but I think Foxx has gone down to make tea. We're going into Dublin this morning. Go on down, now and I'll be along shortly.”
   She sighed with relief when the elder woman turned and walked away. There's something going on in this house, and Mary Beth will be glad to be on their way. She prayed while she showered and dressed that they could get away without further attention from this entity that had laid claim to Foxx's mother.
   As she made her way down the stairs, she could hear them in the small kitchen. She hurried her steps as the voices grew louder. “Foxx.” She spoke his name as she stepped into the room. When he turned to her, she nodded.
   “I think we can stop and get tea and breakfast along the way. I would like to go now, if we could. I want to stop at home and change into fresh clothing and I should think our business will take most of the day as it is.”
   Foxx smiled gratefully and side-stepped around his mother. “I'll be back when I get back, mum. You have a nice day. I'll send Mrs. O'Toole to help you today, if you wish, but I have to go now.”
   He brushed her cheek and took his cap from the hook near the door. He was almost to his truck when his mother called to him. “Drive safely. I won't be needing Mrs. O'Toole, Foxx. Not today.”
   He held the truck door for Mary Beth, then made his way around to the driver's door once she was in and safely buckled up. When he climbed in, he looked over at her and she was pale as paper.
   “What is it? Are you not well? Do you want to stay home?”
   She looked over at him and shook her head. “No. I want away from here, Foxx. There's something very odd with your mother.”  Foxx canted his head, “My mum? Why would you think that, luv?”
   “Because she stopped in the room just just before I took my shower and said something in a voice I knew wasn’t hers. Foxx, what’s going on?”
He turned to Mary Beth and blinked. “If I’d have known, Mary Beth, I would be telling you, now wouldn’t I? If I had all the answers, I wouldn’t be needin’ this trip to Dublin and the big library there. Something’s going on, that’s a sure thing. But what exactly, I don’t know. Yesterday morning at the Dance, I saw what James thought was a dead hand poking up from the ground. Then it disappeared and this woman was running about the circle there. Then the Vicar is telling me some legend about this woman and how she’ll come back when her lover does and me being the only one who saw her at the dance when that hand poked up from the ground.”
He turned his attention back to the road then huffed out a breath. “I’m sorry, Mary Beth. Maybe I’m just hungry and that’s why I’m irritable. There’s a place to eat just up the road, if you’d like to stop. I’ll refuel my caffeine and get something to satisfy my.....sweet holy Mary!”
As the little red lorry crested a hill, the valley laid out before them. Battle sounds and war cries could be heard. Fox slammed on the brakes and cut the wheel sharply to the right. The truck grumbled to a stop along the side of the cart path that had once been a road. He glanced at Mary Beth, saw she was as pale as death and reached for her hand. “It’s not real, Mary Beth. Whatever this is, it isn’t real. It’s some sort of vision and I don’t know if it’s a warning or something else. We’ll just have to wait it out. Hopefully, it won’t last long and we can be on our way.”
Mary Beth’s hand trembled in his, but he saw her swallow and look out at the field of battle on a shuddering breath. “It’s like a dream, Foxx. Like a lucid dream. Are we able to get out? Can we just leave?”
Foxx shook his head. “I’ve not been able to get loose of it until it was finished with me. Stay in the truck, Mary Beth. We’re safer here, I think.” Foxx watched the scene unfold in front of him and waited for the one who always showed himself in these epic battle scenes. He was glad he wasn’t alone and Mary Beth was also seeing the images and hearing the clash of steel and the roar of battle.
Men fell in front  of them, horses leaped the truck as if it were a wall and perhaps in this time and this place, it was a wall. Foxx saw him coming across the battlefield, sword held high and shield wet with blood, his and others. He stopped in front of the truck and as before, his visor was down and Foxx could only see his eyes. The intense blue of them sparkled with mirth as he saluted and turned back to battle as the image and scene faded.
Foxx leaned his head back against the seat of the lorry and drew breath slowly to calm his quaking and the nerves that danced on razor’s edge. He glanced at Mary Beth who had become very quiet and still.
“Mary Beth? Are you alright? Do you want me to take you home? I can go to Dublin alone. This had to have been quite unsettling for you. I can’t explain what just happened. I can only tell you it’s been happening ever since I found that thing in the middle of the circle.”
Mary Beth turned to Foxx and shook her head. “Let’s get on to Dublin then and the library. We need to see what we can find about this battle and this warrior and woman. There’s a reason why you keep seeing them, Foxx, and I think it involves your mother somehow. “ Foxx looked at her and was stunned at how dark and depth-less her eyes were, how glassy. “I just thing we need to go, Foxx. Now.”
Foxx pulled the little lorry away from the side of the road and drove ahead toward Dublin. Another fifteen kilometers and they pulled into the parking lot of a small diner. “I need to eat something, and you will be wanting tea, I’m sure. We won’t linger long here, Mary Beth. But if I don’t eat, I won’t be worth much in the research.” He grinned at her and got out to go round and open her door. Helping her out, he tugged her into a tight hug. “I’m sorry that back there frightened you.”
Mary Beth returned his hug and smiled up at him. “Startled, certainly. But hardly frightened. I found it fascinating to say the least. Intriguing at best. So let’s go in and eat and we’ll get on our way to Dublin. You could phone up James and see if he’s free for lunch or high tea. Maybe he will have some information for you that will help.”
Foxx nodded and pulled out his phone just as it rang. He answered it with a chuckle.  “This is what I call serendipity. I was just reaching for the phone to give you a call, James. What’s up?” Foxx furrowed his brow at his friend’s voice. “Mary Beth is with me. She was wanting to meet up and have lunch or high tea with you since we’ll be in Dublin in about an hour. We’re going to the library there. I want to research something. Yea, sure and it’s glad I’ll be to get to the end of it. Okay, then we’ll see you there.”
Foxx turned to Mary Beth and sighed. “James will meet us at the library. He says he has some information I might be interested in. He sounded odd on the phone. Perhaps he was just tired. But we’ll see him in an hour or so.” 
He opened the door to the diner and they stepped inside. It was empty but for the staff and one gentleman at the end of a long counter. They slipped into a booth and  waited for the girl to come with the menu. Foxx hadn’t realized how hungry he actually was until he sat down. He looked about for the waitress and sighed when he didn’t see her. It wasn’t like they were busy. He and Mary Beth were the only ones here, save the man at the end of the counter.
“Where has the waitress gone?” He kept looking for her and spotted her when she came out of the kitchen. She smiled at Foxx and Mary Beth, picking up menus as she started for their table.
As she approached, she changed. She became the woman from the  dance and Foxx couldn’t help but stare. She smiled sadly. “Hello, Foxx. You have yet to figure out the mystery. I would help you if I could, but I’m not permitted to give you the information you need to find. Just remember, not every friend is a friend and  there is one who is an enemy.”
Then the woman was back to the waitress and Mary Beth was nudging his knee with her foot under the table.  “Foxx! Where are you? The girl is waiting for your order. I thought you were hungry.”
Fox blinked himself back to the present and flushed from embarrassment. “Yes, sorry, lass. I was woolgathering apparently. I’ll have a full breakfast and tea. Have you ordered then, Mary Beth?”
She nodded and when the girl moved away, Mary Beth looked at Foxx. “What was going on? You looked really strange, Foxx.” She reached across the table and touched the back of his hand. “It’s something about here, isn’t it? What did you see?”
Fox shook his head and chewed on his lower lip. “I thought I saw the woman. She spoke to me through the waitress. She was as cryptic as she was before. I’m no closer now.”
Mary Beth nodded and squeezed his hand. “Foxx. Wasn’t there a man sitting at the end of the counter there?” Foxx nodded. “There was, yes. An older gentleman, if I recall.” Mary Beth frowned. “He’s gone. In order for him to have left, he would have had to pass straight by us. He didn’t. And I’ve seen him before. My job requires me to remember faces and such, Foxx. I have to in order to work at a busy pub. He was at the Pub the other night when you nearly hit poor old Jimeson with your mug. I also saw him walking along the road just before we drove into whatever it was we were witness to before we came here.  He was walking along the roadway. Foxx, could he have something to do with this do you think?”
Foxx stared at the woman across the table from him. How did he miss seeing the old man and how did Mary Beth see him when he hadn’t?  “Mary Beth, why didn’t you mention the old man before? He might be important to solving this.”
She looked at Foxx and sighed. “And maybe he’s part of the problem, Foxx. He seems to me to be showing up everywhere there’s trouble. I’m just suggesting we try to find him and speak with him.”
Fox thought long and hard, then shook his head. “I think we should give this over to James and let him handle the questioning. Can you recall what the man looked like? Would you know if we see him again?”
Mary Beth smiled and nodded. “I would know, Foxx. He’s not easy to miss, as he shows himself often. I’m wondering if he’s part of this. Didn’t I hear once that the legend claims the Lady’s father, as well as her warrior and the one who killed him would all return at the same time? I just think it warrants looking into.”
Fox nodded and dug out money for the bill and stood, reaching for Mary Beth’s hand. “Let’s get back on the way, then. James will be looking for us to show up soon, and we’ve dallied here long enough. Shouldn’t be long now.”
The rest of the journey into Dublin went without incident. They pulled up in front of the library and climbed out of the lorry to look for James. Foxx spotted him as he was coming up the walk and went forward to meet him. “Glad you could make it. You remember Mary Beth.”
James nodded and smiled. “I do. Did he have to hog tie you to come along? I didn’t know anyone would be willing to spend time with that mug.”
Mary Beth laughed and shook her head. “I asked to come. I wanted to help him. He’s had a rough time the last little while.” She glanced at Foxx and waited for him to launch into an explanation. Foxx sighed heavily and shook his head. “I think we’ll need tea for that. Maybe when we’re finished here, James can join us for lunch?”
Mary Beth didn’t agree. “Foxx, he’s a busy man.” She turned to James. “Foxx has been having visions, I suppose you could call them.” She launched into the telling of them from the Jameson problem at the pub to the battle vision they both shared on their way into the city. But she never mentioned the old man she had kept seeing. Foxx puzzled that as they made their way into the library and  into the historical section where the history of Ireland, both legend and fact, was stored.
Pulling Mary Beth aside, he asked her quietly why she hadn’t mentioned the old man. Mary Beth shrugged and shook her head. “Because I’m not sure where he fits, Foxx. If he’s part of the visions or part of the reality. Until we know for certain sure, we can’t mention him or James will be trying to find him, thinking he’s real. He may be a part of this, Foxx, but I think we need to decide what role he plays before we include him in our conversations with James.”
Mary Beth turned and started to follow James into the library. “You coming, Foxx? Daylight is wasting.”
Foxx followed, still puzzling over Mary Beth’s words when his cell buzzed angrily in his pocket. He frowned when he saw it was his own phone. “Mum? Are you alright?” There was static on the line before foxx heard the female voice.
“She’s fine, Foxx, for now. She’s had a bit of a scare and I’ll remain with her until you get home. She said someone had been in her house and she didn’t know where you were.”
“Mrs. Kelly. She knew where I’d gone. I’m in Dublin at the library. Mary Beth is with me and we’re doing some work. Who was in the house? When we left, she was in the kitchen making food for the Ceili. She wouldn’t allow me to call you. She said she was fine and she appeared so. Have you called the Dr? I can’t come just yet, but can you stay with her until I get back?”
Maggie Kelly agreed to stay, assuring Foxx his mother was fine in every aspect. She’d just had a fright, was all. She would speak to Foxx when he returned home. Foxx clicked off his phone, bewildered by the turn of events at home. He felt Mary Beth’s hand on his arm and turned to her.
“Mrs. Kelly is with my mother. She’s had a scare and told Mrs. Kelly there had been someone in the house with her. She’ll stay with my mother until I get back. I should have called her before I left.” With a heavy sigh, Foxx shook his head and went on into the library. Mary Beth wasn’t so sure that Foxx’s mother was scared. Something about this phone call made her stomach roil. “Mrs. Kelly,” Foxx continued on, “told me that my mother didn’t know where I had gone. We both told her where we were going, didn’t we?”
Foxx furrowed his brow in thought. He wasn’t sure of anything at this point except that he was unsure what was happening around him. His world had shifted sharply and he wasn’t sure he liked the way it was now.
Mary Beth nodded. “We told her, Foxx. Perhaps you should have the doctor look in on her when we return. It sounds like she’s had a spell of some sort.”
Foxx nodded with a heavy sigh. He really didn’t need this on top of everything else. He nodded to the old gentleman reading the news, not paying much mind. Mary Beth stopped to stare and the old man looked up from his paper and winked at her. She managed a smile, then moved away from him right away.
“Foxx. That old man reading the paper. It’s him, he’s the one who shows up every time something happens. Foxx? Foxx!”
Foxx was on his knees, grasping his head as if he were in pain. Blood dripped from his nose as James knelt over him protectively. Mary Beth turned toward the reading section, but the old man was gone. She pulled a handkerchief from her jacket pocket and held it out to Foxx, who couldn’t have been more surprised. He took it from her to staunch the flow of blood, but his eyes were distant and had the look Mary Beth recognized from the tavern the night before when he attacked Jimeson.
“Foxx, we’re at the library in Dublin. Remember? James is here as well. What are you seeing, Foxx? What’s happened?”
Foxx came out of his stupor more slowly this time. He blinked at Mary Beth and James, confused and dazzled.
“I wasn’t here. I’d stepped onto a battlefield the minute I stepped into this room. I was more than observing this time. I was swinging a battle ax and I felt it when it struck, felt the warm blood on my hands. Jesus and Mary, I feel sick. I’ve never...I haven’t...sweet mother of Hades!” He cringed as the memory of what he had seen flooded back and overwhelmed him.
James pulled him to his feet and got him into a chair. “Foxx, what’s this all about? What’s going on here? Tell me, man! If you’re sick, we can get you to a hospital.”
Foxx smiled up at his friend. “I’m not sick. At least, not in the way you mean. This all started when I saw that gauntlet at the Dance. I’ve been tossed into and out of battle scenes ever since. Mary Beth is too kind to tell you that I nearly killed Jimeson with my beer mug last night at the pub. If it hadn’t been for Murphy, you’d have me in custody for murder right now. I wish I knew what the in Jesus’ name is going on, but I haven’t a clue other than I’m not feeling very well at the moment. By the Saints, James, I was killing men with a battle ax. I could feel every strike, smell the blood, feel it warm on my hands. That’s why we’re here. I need to research that particular Dance and see if I can make sense of this before my head explodes. I was hoping you could give me a hand when you have time to spare.”
James stared at his lifelong friend and shook his head. “I have some time coming up. Nearly four weeks of vacation time. I’ll put in for it today and you’ll have me for those four weeks. I can spare the time, Foxx. Let me help you. The last thing I want is to arrest you or see you sick and in hospital.”
He changed focus and turned to Mary Beth. “I want to know every time he has a spell. Where he is and what’s happened starting now. You mentioned to him about an old man in the reading room. I didn’t see anyone. How does he fit into this?”
Mary Beth sighed. “I’m not sure, James. But anytime I’ve been with Foxx and he’s had a spell, the old man was there. Either just before or just after. When I go to speak to him, he’s gone. I’m not sure if he fades away or leaves and I don’t see him do so, but he’s gone.”
James nodded and handed Mary Beth a calling card. “My cell number and home phone. I don’t care what time of day or night, Mary Beth. You call me when he needs me. I know you’re there with him, but you aren’t an investigator. We’ll figure this out soon. Foxx? You want to stay and research or go on home and leave that up to me?”
Foxx, grateful to his friend, shook his head. “I’ll stay. I’m feeling better and I need to do this. I need to look into this, even with help from the two of you. I won’t rest easy at home, waiting. I’m better doing, James, you know me well enough to know that.”
The police captain nodded and smiled. “Then I think we need to get going on it. The sooner we find information, perhaps the sooner we can solve this. Come on. We’ll hit the research room first. It has listings of all the historical sites and small stories about each one. Once we find the one we want, we can cross reference to the bigger books and the tales that go along with it. If we can find one answer, we can find the rest.”

     The dirty brown car drove slowly along the access road, the driver unaware he was being observed. Eyes the color of rich amber watched from the low shrubbery that lined the roadway. ~Humans! Filthy beasts that foul the waters and the lands with their garbage!~
     It was late enough at night no one would notice the car and the access road led away from the lighted ball field and into the small spot of shrubs and water plants that indicated ‘swamp’. The driver was confident he could make the dump and get himself gone before any patrols wandered through.
     The animal followed the slow moving car, alert to any changes telling him he’d been spotted. The car had driven a few yards into the brush without lights. This drew the curiosity of the coyote even more. What was the filthy human up to in the darkness?
     The driver climbed out of the vehicle and opened the back, and the coyote watched as the man lifted a small bundle from inside. It canted its head slightly as the man, who smelled of fear and sweat, carried the bundle to the ditch, dropped it and nudged it over the small embankment with his toe. The cloth it was wrapped in opened up when the thing rolled and the air was suddenly filled with more than fear. It was also filled with blood scent and death. The coyote curled its lip over sharp canines and growled deep in its chest.
     What had the human brought here so close to its den? It crouched in the bushes and waited until the human had gotten back into the car and driven off before it approached the bundle that had stopped just shy of the shallow pool of water at the bottom of the ditch.
     The coyote smelled and whined at the strange fabric. Heavy, thick; but it didn’t stop the odor coming from what had been held inside. The coyote inched closer, sniffing at the  exposed hand and arm. Warm. Human. It smelled, then leaped away, waiting for the trap to spring. The hand didn’t move. Coyote was more curious now.
     This human had no strange human fur. Its body was naked. The coyote carefully studied the human that had been wrapped in the fabric. It sniffed and snuffled, licked to taste. Warm. Blood. Dead, but not. Coyote pondered at the strangeness of it. What trick was this of the humans to kill yet not kill? Blood, yes. Hurts, yes. Dead, no. Not yet. The coyote yipped in distress and couldn’t understand why it was feeling confused about the smells.

     “Hey, Ambrose! Snap to and get your ass in my office. Where’s your partner?”
      “Here, boss. I was in the … never mind. I’m here now.” Kate Graham moved with the grace of a cat as she crossed the floor. “Come on, Jake. Let’s go see what he wants this time. Maybe we can catch a hot one today.” 
     Jake nodded and dragged himself to his feet. “I guess. Can’t hurt. We haven’t had a good case for a while.” Together they headed for the Captain’s office. Jake was more than tired, even though he’d slept better than eight hours. Maybe he was coming down with something. His amber-brown eyes narrowed at the sun coming in the windows. He truly did feel sick. Damn it! He didn’t need this today. Or any other day, truth be told.
     Captain Aaron Morgan was seated behind his desk, studying a file and looked up at his two best detectives. “Jesus, Ambrose. What the hell is wrong with you? You look like hell.”
     “Thanks, Cap. I dunno. Maybe I’m coming down with some kind of bug. I’m tired. Really, really tired and I ache everywhere. I probably should have stayed home today.” Jake swiped at auburn hair that tumbled wildly around his ears and made him look sexy instead of unkempt. The streaks of silver and white flashed in the sun coming through the Captain’s window.
     “I don’t think so. Beat cops found another body. This one was back off an access road out at the old ball field. Little league took that field over a couple of years ago, but they’re only there a few times a week. The M.E. will be able to tell us how long the body’s been dead, but not how long it’s been out there in that ditch. Forensics team has been out there since last night. I want you two on this, so get your asses out there and bring me back a killer.
     “Oh, yea. Strange thing. The men tell me there’s some kind of dog tracks all over the place out there. Body’d been dragged a bit away from the water, but there aren’t any indications of bites. Hell of a thing.”
     Jake frowned. “What kind of dog? And why would a dog be around a D.B.?” He was thinking aloud again and Kate half-smiled. She loved it when he followed his intuition, which she thought was pretty far advanced. It always amazed her when his ‘thinking’ solved their cases.
     Their captain hunched his shoulders in a noncommittal way. “I don’t know anything about dogs and their habits, Jake. That’s why you’re the detective. Get your asses out to the ball field and go to work. Talk to a....” Aaron glanced down at the paper in front of him. “...John Myers. He’s the officer in charge out there. They’ve taped off the scene and are trying to keep a low profile to keep the gawkers to a minimum. He’s expecting you.” The tone of his voice held the hostility he still felt toward Jake making detective grade so soon.
     Jake nodded, one quick jerk of his head, and turned to leave. Kate recognized the anger that washed over his face for only a few seconds before he’d schooled it into something human again. She knew there was contention between Aaron and Jake about his making detective early. Aaron never thought that family should be given special privileges and Jake’s uncle being a retired police chief certainly seemed to give the man ‘privileges’.
     “Hey, Jake. Wait.” Kate caught him at the elevator, stepping into the box before Jake slammed the button for going down. “Jake. You know Aaron says things just to aggravate  you. Let it go. Jesus, you’ve been on this job for a year. By now, you should know he’s a prick. He just thinks you got preferential treatment and he doesn’t like it because he had to work his ass off to get where he is. Ignore him and let’s solve this case. “
     “Yea, well. It still bites. Morgan is still an ass. But you’re right. Let’s go out there and see what the fuss is about and see if we can pinpoint the type of dog.” He chuckled and shook his head. “A damned dog. What next?” But things were turning in his brain as the elevator took them to the parking garage. “Kate? What if it wasn’t a ‘dog’, but something else? There are wild things out there as well. Wolves, maybe, though they don’t usually come into the city. I’ve heard people talk about packs of feral dogs. Or coyotes.”
     Kate nodded thoughtfully as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. “I’ve heard of coyote attacks, and sometimes them entering businesses because they’re hungry, looking for food. Could be a pack of them, but I thought they were solo beasts.”
     Jake nodded in agreement. “Well, let’s get ourselves out to the scene and take a look. We sure can’t solve the crime by standing in the parking garage debating what kind of animal left prints all over our crime scene.” Jake opened the driver’s door, then stopped and thought about it for a second. “Why don’t you drive, Kate? I’m still feeling a little foggy.”
     Kate stepped around the car and rested a hand on Jake’s cheek for a second. “You don’t feel like you have a fever. Maybe you should see someone, Jake. You still feel like you aren’t sleeping?” She climbed behind the wheel, leaving a stunned Jake staring at her. “Well, for christ’s sake. Get in the car, Jake. Let’s go.”
     He nodded still stunned. “Yea, yea.” He went around and got in the passenger side. “Why did you do that?” Still shocked at Kate’s touch, he frowned at her as he snapped his seat belt into place. “Why did you touch me?”
     Kate turned her head to take in his stunned look  and shrugged. “Because we’re friends, Jake and I’m worried about you. You look sick, feel sick. You haven’t been sleeping well and I wanted to know if you had a fever. It’s not so bad, you know, letting someone touch you. Most women I know who know you would pay for the privilege, ruggedly handsome as you are.” Her teasing was light and playful as she ignored the flutters in her belly and ruthlessly pushed down any rush of feelings she shouldn’t have for her partner.
     Jake chuckled and shook his head. “You’re an idiot, Graham. ‘Women you know who know me.’ How many is that, anyway? Three?” He lifted the radio mic and called them out of the station and they started on their way to the crime scene. Jake let his memory drift to the first time he met Kate. He’d just returned from time away after a particularly gruesome case involving a young woman and she marched up to his desk, introduced herself as his new partner. His initial reaction had been ‘Bloody hell, not in this lifetime,’ but she’d proven herself invaluable since. His old partner had retired after that case and Jake had thought about another line of work himself. Kate was the one who talked him around to sticking.
     He had to admit, he’d been attracted to her from the beginning. Though wisely, kept those thoughts to himself. She was his partner. It wouldn’t do for them to become ‘involved’. He’d seen it happen with others, and it never seemed to work out. Jake imagined the stress of having a partner who was also your lover would destroy any relationship other than a professional one. There would be the worry, and the constant fear of them dying on the job. Not that he didn’t worry about Kate like that. But he had convinced himself it was different because she was his partner.
     He’d had the window **** just a bit to allow in the fresh air and he scented the scene before they turned the corner. “We must be close,” he muttered more to himself than to Kate. She slowed the car as they rounded the curve and nodded. Jake sat up straighter, blinking his eyes to try to clear the familiarity fog that overlaid the crime scene. He’d been here before. He was almost sure of it, though he couldn’t bring to mind when or why. And he knew without a doubt that the body wasn’t dead when it was dropped here.
     Jake paled as he stepped out of the car. He could smell the blood and taste the metallic tang of it on his tongue. Kate hurried to his side and peered up at the six foot tall man. “You okay? You don’t look very good, Jake. Why don’t you sit this one out? Maybe you are coming down with something.”
     Jake shook his head and went toward the small group of cops standing close to the crime tape. A smallish man stepped from the group and held out his hand. “You Ambrose and Graham? I was told to expect you two. John Myers. Come on, I think you need to see this before the lab boys mess things up. Group of concerned citizens over there.” He nodded toward a small crowd. “They’re worried it was some kind of animal attack. I don’t think any animal did this; at least not the four-legged variety.” They made their way to the dead body. The closer they got the more Jake knew he’d been here before, was prepared for the sight of the young woman. Jesus, the blood scent was powerful, though he knew she hadn’t been attacked here. Act like a cop, Jake.
Jake peered at the body and grimaced. A young woman who looked like she’d been beaten and stabbed repeatedly in some monstrous ritual of blood letting. He squatted down and poked at the tarp with the pen he’d taken from his shirt pocket. “She was wrapped in this?”
The younger police officer nodded and looked at his notepad. “Yes, sir.  Just as you see her, half exposed like that. We haven’t touched anything; just secured the scene and waited for you to get here like we were told. Those paw prints were all over the place. They look like some sort of dog, but we don’t know if she had a dog with her or not.”
Kate canted her head and looked at the prints, but before she could speak, Jake did. “This is a body drop. No blood other than what’s on the tarp and no obvious signs of struggle here. She didn’t have a dog with her, I think the dog came after she was dropped. And I don’t think it was a dog. Those prints look like coyote. I’d heard there was a pack of them out here, but they don’t seem to be wanting to wander any closer to civilization, so the city is leaving them be.”
Officer Myers walked a few feet away to speak to another officer while they waited for the medical examiner to arrive to join the forensic unit. “Hey, Mike? Does Ambrose give you the willies? It’s just spooky, how he knows things, don’t you think?”
Myers partner grunted in agreement, but kept his eyes on the corpse and the two detectives. “Yea, well. I wouldn’t mind havin’ a partner like that one. She reminds me of a cat, the way she’s all sleek and sexy. Wonder if he’s hittin’ that?”
Jake looked up at the two officers and snarled under his breath. “Those two need to stop with the bullshit, Kate.”
Kate laughed and shook her head. “Leave them be, Jake. They’re young and young men are  stupid dickheads.. I don’t mind, really. Makes me feel good about myself...you know? Knowing I can still be attractive to two twenty-somethings, even if they are idiots.. Come on. We have bigger things to worry about at the moment. Like how did this body get here and why. Forensics just arrived, so maybe we’ll know something that can help without having to wait for days.”
Jake nodded and poked again at the blood stained tarp. “No more blood than what’s here means this isn’t the primary. She was killed somewhere else and brought here. What we need to know is who she is, who killed her and why. Being dumped here, because this is so remote, they didn’t figure on us finding the body this fast. M.E. should confirm, but she’s not been here very long and I don’t think she’s been dead very long either. Let’s get out of the way and let the man do his job. I want to check out the area here, see what might have accidentally been left for us to find.”
Kate nodded and followed Jake as he wandered about the area, noting he was careful where he put his feet. “Jake? Why are you watching your step?”
Jake turned and blinked at her. “Sorry?”
“I’ve been following you around here and you’re being really guarded about where you put your feet. I was curious as to why. We’re far enough away from the scene, we won’t be messing anything up.”
Jake grimaced and sighed. “You don’t know if whoever dumped her wandered off for a **** before he  left. Or maybe he walked about a bit looking for the best place to dump her. Would be nice to get one good print out here...maybe we’d hit it lucky and it would match a specific shoe or sneaker or something.” He sniffed the air and shook his head. “I can tell you, there’s nothing fresh out here. Any urine smell is old enough to not be very strong. Let’s go talk to the M.E. and see if he’s got anything preliminary for us before he takes the body away.”
He turned back and headed for the crime scene again and the medical examiner. “Hey, Mike. What’s up here? Anything good for us?”
Mike Turner shrugged. “Female, roughly eighteen to twenty-two, one-twenty to one-thirty, roughly five foot eight. Been dead according to liver temp about twenty-four hours. This one was brutal, Jake. Stabbed and beaten. Cause of death, at this point seems to be blunt-force trauma to the temporal region of her head, but I’ll know more when I get her on the table. I figure you know this isn’t your primary, so I won’t have much to go on yet. Find me that and I’ll give you loads of stuff. New forensic equipment came today. In another day or so, we’ll be connected to a national database that will tell us if there are other unsolved out there with similar m.o.’s. Make access to prints easier as well. And I’m hoping to find some on her body. Killers don’t know they leave prints on skin just like any other surface.”
Mike turned to his assistant. “Let’s get her bagged and tagged, Josh. Load her up and take her downtown. I’m curious as to why she’s dead and maybe we can give that new equipment a try.”
Jake watched Mike and Josh body bag the victim, load her onto a gurney and shove her into the waiting van. He hoped they would have something by tomorrow at the latest. He still felt like hell and the world was taking a slow spin. His stomach lurched and he leaned against a nearby tree for a few seconds until the world righted itself again. Damn it, what was wrong with him?
“Hey, Kate. Mind dropping me at home? I can work from there on things and I’m still not feeling all that steady.”
Kate glanced up at him and frowned. “I think you need to see someone, Jake. You’re white as my grannie’s sheets, and sweating like a D.O.T. worker on a busy traffic day. I’ll take you home if you promise to call someone. Maybe I’ll stop by later on and bring you stuff. Whatever you need.”
“I’ll call someone, Kate. I promise. I just need to curl up and sleep for a hundred years. Getting something to help me do that will help me, I’m sure.”
He pushed away from the tree he’d been leaning against and headed for the patrol car. They almost made it when one of the officers called to them. “Hey! Detectives! Over here. You have to see this.”
Jake groaned under his breath and turned back to the scene. The cop was pointing to the ground excitedly, so they traipsed back to look. A piece of muddied paper lay almost buried, but Jake could see it was a ticket. He frowned and lifted it carefully by a corner with the tips of his fingers. Kate grabbed an evidence bag from her pocket and slid it up and over the paper.
“If it’s something, we’ll know when the lab finishes with it. It might be something that had been here all along.” Kate noted on the bag in permanent marker where the paper was found, the time and date, also noting that it had been found after the body was  moved, indicating the ticket had been under the tarp. “Come on, cowboy, let’s get you home so you can get well. I think we’re gonna need you on this every step of the way. You and your magic intuition.” Kate smiled as she walked back to the car with Jake. “You know, Jake. I’d come keep you company later if you asked me. We could have some dinner and do some reconnoitering on this. The girl is young. Maybe a college girl, maybe a runaway. But some mom is going to be worried about her daughter who didn’t return home last night. Or some room mate will be frantic about her friend who left a party and didn’t come home.”
“Yea, and maybe she’s a hooker who took one from her pimp. You can stop by if you want. Why don’t you work that angle this afternoon, I’ll work on another one from home. Come by, Kate. I’ll fix dinner or order in and we’ll compare notes.”
Kate nodded. She had more in mind than comparing notes, but she’ll let that come as it may. Jake was drawn to her, she knew, as much as she was to him. Being partners made it rough, but they could learn to work together and make a great team. And they could start by siphoning off some of this sexual buzz she had felt for him from day one of working together. At least she hoped they could. She wouldn’t mind a nice roll in the sack with Jake. She’d like to know if the rumors were true.

The old warehouse looked as if it was ready to fall in and Sam had always wondered that the last huge storm hadn’t dropped it to the ground in a gust of seventy mile per hour wind. But the damned thing still stood and his boss’s office was still neat and orderly at one end, while trucks moved in and out of the old place at the other. Sam never questioned what they hauled or why they were hauling it. That was part of the secret to surviving working for ‘Big Tony’ Mazza. And Sam Gespote wasn’t a dumb man.
He kept his nose out of the everyday operations of the business and Big Tony kept him on the payroll. Right now, he was relaxing in the big leather chair that faced Tony’s desk and enjoying a good Italian red.
“You took care of my son’s problem, Sammy? There won’t be any more words from that?”
Sam nodded. “I took care of it, Tony.” It felt good to be on a first name basis with the man who paid you your living. “There won’t be any more trouble from that particular problem.”
Tony smiled across his desk and slid an envelope toward Sam. “Then you have my eternal thanks, Sammy. We take care of one another, yea? I have another job for you. This one is easy. No killing. Just some information gathering. I want to know who’s ripe for the pickin’ at the police department. I like to change them out once in a while so no one gets suspicious. We can’t afford anyone from there getting suspicious while this operation is still going on. I need some new soldiers in there. Think you could do that for me?”
Sam chuckled and nodded. “Yea, Boss. I can do that for you. I have lots of contacts on the force. It’ll be nice to reconnect with some of them, do some asking around.”
Tony nodded. Sammy had been like a brother to him on the streets and when Sam needed a job, Tony offered. Sam never questioned, he just did. Tony could rely on him for a lot of things and keeping him and his safe was a major trust. Tony’s son, Vinnie, had a problem with women and drink. Nothing with drugs, since that was part of the trade that happened here and you didn’t **** in your own bed, so to speak, so Vinnie stayed well away from the new and growing drug trade. But he indulged in booze and women and once in a while, Sammy had to take care of things, get Vinnie clean and sober for whatever reason Tony deemed. Sam had worked at keeping that kid sober since he started working for Tony.
It wasn’t always an easy job. Vincent Mazza had a way with women. Usually the expensive ones that ended up costing him a ton of money. When they got pushy about what they wanted, it was Sam who came to the kid’s rescue and disposed of the problem without so much as a blink. He secretly wished the boy physical harm, but it was only a personal thought and not one to be spoken aloud or acted upon.
When Vinnie was younger, Sam often witnessed his father heaping praise upon the kid for the way he handled the women given to him. Vinnie had been involved with women since the age of fourteen. 
Now twenty, Vinnie understood the only way to treat a woman was like an object. He treated his own mother with respect, but only because she would beat him with a bat if he didn’t. The other women he was sent or whom he met on the street, were treated like scum. They meant nothing to the young man. They were often his punching bag, his ****, his dirty laundry, and got little to no respect from him. Sammy was finding himself cleaning up after the kid more and more often. One of these days, Big Tony would ask about how things were going and he’d be obliged to tell him about the women. Tony would take swift and terrible action against his own son. Sam shuddered as he thought about it. Maybe that would be best. The kid was a walking danger magnet. Big Tony didn’t need that kind of attention.
Sam called his buddy in the police department and arranged a lunch meet. Then went to Vincent’s place to talk to the kid again. One more time of talking and Sam will have to make an effort to talk to Big Tony about his son. As he turned the corner of the kid’s street, he saw squad cars and neighbors milling around. What the hell now? He pulled the car over and watched to see if he could figure out what was going on. He grabbed his cell phone and put a call in to the boss once he saw the action was his son’s apartment. The door was standing open and cops were everywhere. As soon as he saw the M.E.’s van, he hit dial and waited.
“Yea?” The voice on the other end sounded gruff and disoriented. Sam could hear a woman in the background and he winced.
“Boss? Got some excitement at Vinnie’s place. Cops and the medical examiner, reporters and gawkers.” There was silence on the other end of the line for a full minute. Sam was just about to speak when Tony, sounding more like himself, came back on the line.
“Get your ass over there and find out what the hell is going on, then call me back. I’ll get a call in to Marcel, in case we need him for something.”
Marcel was the family lawyer, Sam knew. He pushed open the car door and made his way across the street and elbowed his way through the crowd. He latched on to a cop he knew and pulled him closer. “What’s happening?”
The cop, jolted by the snatch, blinked at Sam and shook his head. “You have any idea where the kid is, Sam? Neighbors reported a loud argument, but by the time we got here, the kid was in the wind and there’s a body in his apartment. Looks like she’d been beaten pretty bad before she died. Skirt up around her waist, panties around her ankles. Stabbed repeatedly, bitten. Coroner says it looks like whoever did this was mighty pissed about something and the girl took the brunt of it.”
Sam sighed inwardly. “I ain’t seen the kid. Not since day before yesterday. Got I.D. on the girl?”
The cop flipped his notebook open and shook his head. “Nah. She looks to be about sixteen, Sam. If the kid is playing house with minors, he’ll go away for a long time. I gotta get back in there. See if you can find the kid and get him to come in on his own. Right now, we only want to talk to him. But if evidence says he’d been at her, we’ll need to do more than talk.”
Sam made his way back to his car and called Big Tony. “ Dead body in the kid’s place, Tony. Cops say she looks to be about sixteen and pretty badly beaten, stabbed, bitten. No sign of Vinnie. Neighbors reported a loud argument early this morning, cops responded, but only found the girl. I’m going to do some looking and see if I can find the kid. This isn’t his usual M.O., Boss. Anyone you know got it in for you or the kid?”
Tony grumbled back at Sam. “Find the fuckhead, Sammy, before the cops do. We’ll deal with our own. You know the usual places. Find him, Sam. Get his ass back here to me.”
The phone clicked off and Sam sighed to himself. He knew where to look, but if Vinnie didn’t want to be found, he played ‘least in sight’ very well. This could take a while.
Sam headed to Angela’s mother’s house. The kid liked to go there when he was in trouble. The grandmother kept him safe from Tony’s discipline as much as she could. Sam thought of her as an enabler. If she was hiding the kid, Sam knew it would be next to impossible to rend him free. But this was serious **** and had to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Jake barely made the bathroom of his apartment before he was violently ill. Chills shook him as fever raged through his body. He barely managed to undress and crawl into the tub, turning the shower on full. Pain wracked him as his vision blurred and his muscles went taught. He blinked and from one second to the next, he was looking at the world from a whole new perspective. Rage hurned through him as he sat in the tub, the water tumbling over his coyote body. He clamoured out of the tub and shook violently to get the water out of his fur.
He went into the bedroom and angled toward the window. With a leap, he was out and running. He had to get back to the lair and it frightened him that he  couldn’t control the police showing up or the possibility that his pack would be found. He kept them all in the little forest as much as he could, though hunting was getting harder as the pack grew and he knew on some instinctive level that he would either have to split them up or move them all to a larger area.
He managed to avoid the police presence and slip into the lair quickly. He was greeted with pups and other larger younglings yips and sharp barks. Yes, he knew about the humans and no there wasn’t anything he could do at the moment since there was a dead girl.
The young coyotes quieted at the mention of death. They could smell it in the air, but never associated it with the humans mucking about in their swamp. The alpha coyote tried to explain to them about how the young woman died and they needed to be vigilant now that the humans would be about more until they found answers. If they found evidence, they should leave it where the silly humans could find it on their own. The young coyotes understood and yipped in agreement. 
Satisfied that his pack was safe for the time being and they were aware of the humans and the dangers as well as the search for the bad human that brought death to their door, he left them again. They would be fine with food and hunting in small groups as long as they stayed away from the humans. 
The death had made him ill. The body had been mutilated and abused and all he wanted to do was find the perp before another girl died. He lost all sense of time in this form, but he knew it was getting late in the afternoon so he headed back to his apartment. As he made the leap into the bedroom window, he froze.
Someone was here, poking about in his kitchen. He glanced from the doorway to the bathroom where he’d left his clothes from this morning, then beyond to the kitchen. Kate! Damn, he’d lost track of time, which was easy to do in this form. He eyed the bathroom again and decided he hadn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of getting there without being seen. He watched her as she picked up a box from the counter and turned to head toward the bedroom.
“Jake? Jake are you awake? I let myself in, I hope you don’t mi....” Her mouth open, she stared at the coyote standing in the middle of the bedroom. She slowly lowered the box to the table next to the door and drew her service weapon. Jake stared at it as she aimed it at him.
****! ****, ****, ****! “Kate, don’t fire that weapon, PLEASE!”  The coyote blinked amber eyes at her and bared his teeth in what he hoped was a friendly grin. Kate wasn’t happy at the snarl he produced. Jake didn’t move, Kate didn’t move. They stared at one another for a full minute before Jake whined and lay down, rolling to expose his belly submissively. That was the last thing he wanted to do and hoped his pack never witnessed their leader in this pose.
Kate watched the coyote roll and frowned. This wasn’t the actions of a wild creature. Kate, being city born and raised, had little to no experience with the wild. She wished Jake was here, since he seemed to understand these beasts. She didn’t lower her gun, was actually afraid to. What if it rushed at her? And where the hell was Jake?
The coyote rolled to his feet and yipped lightly. Kate’s hands started to tremble as it closed on her. “I’ll shoot you. Don’t come any closer, dog. I WILL shoot you.”
“If you’re going to shoot me, you better make it a fatal shot, Graham, or I’ll hunt you down and shoot you back.”
Kate blinked and stared at the coyote. “Did you just talk to me? I guess that takes ‘speak’ to a whole new level.” Stunned beyond belief,  she watched as the coyote finished the transformation and Jake stood before her. She was too stunned to notice he was naked. She was too stunned to notice much of anything. “Jake? What the hell was that? It was some parlor trick! Jesus!”
Jake smiled at her and nodded at her hand. “Put the gun down, Kate, before you actually shoot me. I’ll explain everything if you give me a moment to get decent.”
Kate glanced at her hand, then at Jake. Her eyes raked his body from toes to top and back down. She managed a swallow as she took a careful study of the broad shoulders, powerful arms, muscular abs, and strong thighs. Her eyes finally stopped their roaming and stared. Jake was suddenly very aware of his nakedness and found himself nervous and shaky.
“Um, Graham? You’re staring. Go sit down and let me get dressed. I’ll be out in a few minutes and try to explain this to you.”
He grinned at her nod and watched her go out to the living room before he went into the bathroom and picked up his jeans and shirt from earlier. They were still damp and smelled of sickness, so he dumped them into his laundry and went back to the bedroom to get clean clothes. As he stepped into his jeans, he knew his secret was about to explode and he could only hope Kate understood enough to help him keep it from the media so he could move the pack and get them to relative safety.
He went to the living room in jeans and bare feet, his shirt on but open. He sat opposite Kate and smiled at her. “I guess you have questions. I’ll try to answer them best as I can. We’ll take it one thing at a time. I’m what the indigenous peoples call a skin walker. My animal is coyote. That’s where this gets strange. I didn’t know until a couple of years ago that I could change like this. When it happened the first time, I thought I was dreaming. It didn’t last long and I was back into myself within minutes. It kept happening, night after night for longer and longer periods of time. Eventually, I went to a doctor in another city. I couldn’t risk my career, so I lied about who I was and where I came from.
“But he knew. He knew all about me, my dreams and my ability. He said someone told him I would be coming to see him and he would be able to help me. He did, Kate. As far as he could, he helped me. His Grandfather was a Navajo shaman. This doctor told me what he had learned from his grandfather before the old man left this plane. He helped me control the change, helped me live a life within a life.
“It’s painful to shift purposely. What you call my ‘magic intuition’ is coyote sense. I can smell things and notice things that the normal human can’t. Crime scenes like the one this morning make me ill because I have these over-sensitive senses. I was there before the body was found this morning. She was still alive on some level when I pulled her away from the water in the ditch. What I saw and what I felt in those moments made me ill. I knew patrol was headed into the park and instinct made me go to my pack to keep them safe. It was also instinct to head home and get what few minutes of sleep I could. Apparently it wasn’t enough.
“I didn’t understand that either for a while today. What I find in coyote form makes me ill in human. I can’t explain it, Kate. It’s like sensory overload. I have to sleep or alter and run to overcome the illness. I can’t sleep and work too, so I try to stay here and not try to follow instinct to bodies and crime scenes. I’m always the first on scene and no one even knows. I can’t give them anything I know about the scene because a lot of it I can’t recall when I alter forms.
“I try to not find my pack, but that draw is too strong. I have to go to them, be with them, if only for a little while. They aren’t safe where they are now. Humans will hunt them and kill them because they don’t want to believe that the vicious murder of a young woman couldn’t possibly be done by human hands. I’m their alpha. My job is to keep them all safe.
“Because I found this girl early this morning while I was out hunting with some of the younger pack, I want to finish it. I want to find whoever did this and end him. She was still alive, Kate. And I couldn’t help her. And when I shift back, I forget. Until we rolled up onto that scene, I had no idea that I’d been there earlier. Every time I shift, I seem to lose a part of who I am, my humanity.”
Kate stared at the man who had been her partner almost from the beginning. He’d been assigned to her when he first made detective and they clicked, so Cap kept them together.
“So what? You’re telling me you’re some kind of werewolf thing? Some kind of monster?”
Jake flinched and stood to pace the room. “If that’s how you see me, then I guess that’s what I’m saying, Kate. I’ve never told anyone.” He paused in front of the window and stared out the glass at the rapidly setting sun. “I wanted you to know because this is all about trust. You have to trust the partner you have, right? I’m not a were-anything. I’m a shapeshifter. I hold the form of the coyote within me and once in a while, I shift.”
Kate still stared at him. she wasn’t sure what to think or how to react. She’d seen him do just that a few minutes ago. But her mind wasn’t wrapping itself around what she saw or what she was hearing. She blinked, then stood. “Jake? Look at me.”
When he turned toward her, she was drawn to the rich amber eyes, not quite human, not quite animal. She took a hesitant step forward, then stopped. Jake watched her and frowned as she hesitated. He wanted to run, he wanted to stay. He felt his heart rate kick up a notch and he willed himself to calm down. She’d put her weapon down at least. But what he told her would have her either run screaming or accept him. He expected her to run screaming, or at least laugh.
Kate did neither. She swallowed and reached a hand to touch his cheek, much as she had earlier in the day. Jake pulled his head back before her hand could rest there and smiled at her. She frowned and dropped her hand with a heavy sigh.
“Jake. I won’t hurt you nor will I expose you. I just don’t know what to think right now. Can we just have dinner and see? I want time to think this through. I want to sit here with you and talk about the case and see what we can put together between us. You haven’t rested, I can see it in your eyes. You’re exhausted and not feeling well. Come sit with me and we’ll have some wine and relax for a little bit. You can drink wine, can’t you?”
Jake laughed half-heartedly and nodded. “I can have wine, Graham. I’m not a monster.” He had no idea why he said it. He felt the need to make her understand he wasn’t the monster she thought he was. He needed to make sure she understood that he wasn’t evil or dangerous, that he would never hurt her. That she was important to him in more than the job. She was his friend and he cherished that because he didn’t have many of them.
He wasn’t sure what Kate thought about him and his unique ability. But there were things stirring inside him and he wasn’t sure if he liked them or not. He wasn’t even certain that might be a possibility. He frowned as he leaned back in his chair and closed his tired eyes. He was asleep before dinner even arrived.
Kate sat for a long time and watched him sleep. He looked so ‘normal’. But now she knew his secret, she was thinking back over all their cases and how good he’d been at following lead after lead until they had solved it. She teased him about his dogged determination and now wondered at how close she’d actually been. He was good at his job and she had ridden the glory of his instincts with him into praise from the city and the Police Commissioner. She remembered that he stayed as much in the background as he could and never claimed to have solved things on his own. He had let her take credit where he could, and she’d let him.
Now she understood why he had. He couldn’t risk his career or his life. He was determined to keep his ‘pack’ safe from the humans and she wondered now if they were all shifters or if that ability only went to the Alpha of each pack. She thought she would ask him later, but right now, he was so sound asleep, she doubted if even his phone would wake him. She placed a throw over him and smiled to herself. He was handsome and she always felt a pull from him she couldn’t quite explain.
She would let him sleep for now and a nap sounded pretty good to her, as well. If they both slept for a couple of hours, then maybe they could approach this whole matter with a clearer outlook. They would have to figure out how this could work to their advantage and still keep his secret. As much as she cared for and trusted her partner, she was still apprehensive about this coyote thing and just how much she could trust his ability to control the change. She made her way into his bedroom and collapsed on his bed, She was asleep before she could entertain another thought.


Sam hadn’t found the boss’s kid at his Grandmother’s and was convinced she hadn’t seen him in days. He frowned into the dusk and pondered the disappearance of the boy. He called Tony from his car and told him what he knew.
“The shithead hasn’t been around, Tony. Gloria hasn’t seen him for a few days and Angela isn’t happy about him being missing either. I’m going to check a couple of other places where I know he goes. You want him if I find him?”
“No, I don’t want him if you find him. I want you to get him the hell out of town until the cops find whoever killed this girl or we do. I don’t want you to come back here, Sammie. Cops are poking their noses around and that’s not a good thing, if you understand me. Just get the little **** out of town and make sure he stays clean. We have something big in the works and I don’t need the kid fuckin’ it up.”
Tony hung up without fanfare and Sammy sighed. He’d had plans with his latest girl for tonight. Now he had to find the dumb-**** and get him out of town. He couldn’t risk taking the girl and he didn’t want to tell her anything either. He’d discovered early on in his relationships with women, the less you tell them the safer they are. If they can’t tell the cops anything, the safer you are as well. But damn it he was **** as hell and really wanted to spend time with her to take his ease.
Well, couldn’t be helped now. He had a job to do and he would do it. Maybe he could convince the kid to give him a blow. Especially if he got him high enough or drunk enough. He knew the kid liked it both ways, so he wasn’t so much worried about that as he was the dick’s old man finding out. Big Tony didn’t know about the boy’s sexual tastes and Sammy kept it that way. That was how he earned the kid’s trust.
He stopped at one of the local hangs for kids and learned that Vinnie had been there not more than a half hour ago and that he’d left with a boy named Leon. Sammy frowned and thought, but the name didn’t ring a bell, although one of the girls there said Vinnie and Leon were ‘tight’, if he knew what she meant. So the kid either went to Leon’s or they found a cheap motel room. Since neither boy owned a car that anyone knew of, and Leon’s place was less than a block over, Sam had to figure that’s where they went.
He headed that way, keeping his eye out for Vinnie. He spotted him coming out of some seedy building alone. The kid spotted Sam at the same time and jerked his head toward the alleyway. Sam pulled the car in and the kid climbed inside.
“Sam. I was gonna call you...”
“Sure you were, kid. Look, I got orders from your old man to get you out of town. I’m assuming you knew about the girl?”
Vinnie furrowed his forehead and shook his head. “What girl? I don’t know nothin’ about no girl, Sammy and that’s the honest truth. Tell me.”
Sam filled the boy in as they drove toward the bridge that led out of town. “So, your father wants you hid until they find the clown who killed her. Which, apparently wasn’t you. I knew it, kid. I knew you would never do a girl that way. Cop friend of mine said she was brutalized. I never knew you to hurt a woman, Vinnie.”
Vinnie shivered and shook his head again. “I ain’t never hurt no female, Sammy, you know that. Even if they like it rough, I don’t hurt them. Slap them about a bit and cuff them to the bed once in a while, but I don’t hurt them on purpose. I ain’t never cut one like that. I don’t get off on blood..”
Sam nodded thoughtfully as they drove out into the country, headed for the rural cabin that no one knew belonged to Big Tony. Sammy’s mother owned it according to the papers on it. His mama was in a home for old folks, but Sammy kept up the cabin. It made a nice escape from the city; especially since the addition of the indoor pool.
They pulled into the drive and Sammy pushed the button that opened the garage door. The cops were aware of the place, but they left it alone, since no one was here all the time. He pulled the car in and closed the outer door.
“Vinnie, you and me, we gotta stay here for a bit. It’s safe here, since no one knows about it. Who’s Leon?”
Sam couldn’t help the jealous tone to his voice, and Vinnie smiled at him before they got out of the car. “He’s a friend, Sam. Just like you are. I don’t always have a taste for hen chicken. Sometimes, I just want ****.”
He laughed as he opened the car door and climbed out. “Come on, Sam. I’m hungry and that indoor pool is calling me. I want a swim.”
Sam grinned at the kid and nodded. “Sure, sure. Let’s go have a swim, then we’ll see what’s for dinner.” Sam wouldn’t have minded if the kid had offered himself, but he was a patient man and before the night was over, he would be sated one way or another.
By the time Sam had dealt with a phone call from his toss-phone and hunted up food for dinner, the kid was already in the pool. Sam was thrilled to find him naked. He stripped down to join him. Vinnie was lounging against the far wall of the pool, waiting.
“So, what’s for dinner?”
Sam laughed and it echoed off the walls of the pool area. “I took out some steaks and tossed a couple of potatoes into the oven.” Sam’s eyes widened as he took the kid in and noticed his arousal. “Jesus, kid. Wasn’t Leon enough?”
Vinnie laughed and stroked his long fingers down his length and shook his head. “No, he wasn’t. It’s been a while, Sammy.”
Sam nodded and closed the distance between them in a single stroke. “If Tony ever finds out, I’m a dead man. But I think you’re worth the risk.”
Vinnie chuckled and pulled Sam closer to him, hard body against hard body. “I know I am. Worth every penny. And I’ll keep you safe from my father, Sam. By the time I’m done with him, he’ll think it was all me and I convinced you with some difficulty. It’ll all be alright.”


Kate woke up with the moon shining in the open window and a chill breeze blowing the curtains into the room. She became aware all at once of something ‘other’ in the room with her. “Jesus, Jake. Can’t you make some noise to let a person know you’re in the room?”
Jakes voice sounded from the doorway with a chuckle. “I’m not in the room, Kate, but Adrian is. Get out, Addy. Go back to where you should be and stay away from here. It’s not safe for you to be here, you know that.”
*Who is she, Jake? Why is she in your bed?*
“Who she is is my partner. She’s in my bed because I want her there. Go home Addy. NOW!”
Kate could have sworn she felt as if the coyote was young and had spoken aloud. She watched as the animal turned and leaped out the window. She turned to Jake and shook her head. “Did that coyote speak to you?”
Jake sighed and nodded. “SHE thinks we’re intended to be mates. She’s young, still a pup by most standards. In human years, she’s only a kid - sixteen. I brought her into the pack after she lost her parents to a ‘hunting accident’. I think she fixated on me or something. Anyway, why are you in my bed?”
Kate flushed and started to get up, flustered that she’d been caught. She hadn’t intended to sleep very long. “I was tired and you had the comfy sofa. I didn’t think you would mind, but I’ll just get up and....”
Jake stopped her with his hand on her shoulder. “What I told Addy was true, Kate. I want you there. But if this shifter thing makes you uneasy, we can let things be as they are for now. If we do that, be aware that I want you in my bed and I’ll do everything I know how to do to get you there and keep you there. Partner or no, I’m not going to ignore this feeling any longer.”
Kate felt her heart thump hard in her chest and she shifted so Jake could join her. “I think we need to talk about this shifter thing, Jake. I want to understand it, truly I do. I want you to trust that I will never betray you to anyone. Your secret is safe with me.”
Jake sat on the edge of the bed, unsure of his welcome any further. “I’ve always had a sense of ‘other’. All my life, I’ve had this ability with animals, like a second sense. My grandmother was a fanciful sort and could spin tales like a pro. She was the first one to warn me, I guess, about changers, shifters, and how they’re shunned and avoided and killed when the human world had enough of them or blamed them for things they couldn’t explain by any other means. It was always the wild dogs, or wolves or coyote. And easier to kill them, than to accept them as part of the world humans claimed as their own.
“I always thought my gram was talking about fairy tales until I started to have dreams of coyote, running with them, leading them. That was when I figured it out. It was her warning to me. Research into my family history gave me the rest. My Grandfather and several Uncles were shifters. It seems to have skipped my father, but came to me instead. Maybe because he was in such acute denial of what he was that he never shifted. He still won’t talk about it to me or anyone else and actually threatened my Grandmother if she spoke to me about it, so she told me tales swamped in truth, and warnings masked in humor. She was the one I called before I went to see a doctor. She told me who to see, who to talk to, what to ask. That’s how he knew why I was there and why he helped me as much as he could. The rest I had to learn as things went along. Gram is dead now, and my father still won’t listen to me, so I’ve had to figure things on my own for a while now.
“I don’t know if this will be good for us or not, you knowing. But to my way of thinking, it should be a good thing. You have questions, I can see them in your eyes. I’ll do my best to answer them for you.”
Kate smiled, unsure where to begin. “You can start by telling me about how many of you there are here. How many do you protect?”
“We’re a small group of about six. I found the others just by accident one night while I was hunting. They were huddled in a small cave and half starved. Not one of them understood what they were or what they could do. So I began by teaching them basic survival, things like how to hunt, when and where, so they wouldn’t get caught and killed. They were taking peoples pets and strays. I had to make my point what they were risking by doing that. Most of them are young, none above the age of eighteen, and shunned by family or have no family left, like Addy. I’ve always had an open window policy here, but if it makes you uneasy, I’ll talk to them about it. We can shut that off.”
Kate was shocked and it registered in her expression. “You will do no such thing, Jake. They need you to be there for them and you will be. We’ll just set something up so they have a sense of when. They can’t just come wandering in here to you at all hours. No wonder you’re getting no rest.”
Jake canted his head slightly and smiled. “Thanks. I’ll still speak to them, since they won’t trust you or anything you might say. It’ll take them a while to understand you are a friend. I’ve let them think the law here will destroy the pack if they had reason to believe they were a threat.