Police cars were parked at our intersection on either side of the barriers. Police Chief William Orso stood in the middle of the road. On one side and behind him was a female officer. More officers stood near their cars or in front of the crowd of people. They were all armed.
A chill swept over me. I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself.
Orion glanced down at me. "You okay?"
I nodded. "Yeah, just feels like somebody walked over my grave."
Ambigo stepped off the sidewalk and hurried over to the chief. We followed close at his heels. One of the officers stepped into our path and held up his hand. "You can't come through here, Scott."
"What's going on?" Ambigo asked him.
The officer shook his head. "We don't know yet. We were notified of the march and just got here. Orso's going to talk to them."
I looked past the officer at the parade of stern women and girls. "Is that such a good idea? They're not exactly the fan club for males."
"That's why the other officer is there," he explained.
Mirela reached within five feet of Orso and stopped. The silent procession behind her also halted.
Chief Orso stepped forward. "You know the rules, Mirela. Your band isn't supposed to come into town."
Mirela sneered at him. "You're a hypocrite if you demand we obey an agreement that has already been broken by one of your own."
Orso frowned. "How has it been broken?"
She swept her narrowed eyes over the crowd that stood behind him. Her words were loud and clear. "One of you has intruded on our sacred burial grounds and destroyed their markers. We demand justice!"
The women behind her raised their torches and pitchforks. Their cries filled the air. "Yes! Justice! We demand they be punished!"
A great murmur arose from the crowd of Halloween revelers. Everyone turned to their neighbor as though silently accusing them of the deed.
Orso held up his hand. Both crowds quieted. "If true then-"
"You doubt my word?" Mirela snapped at him. Her companions hissed.
Orso furrowed his brow and raised himself to his full height. "I haven't seen the proof yet, Mirela, but if you will cooperate-"
Mirela raised one hand and snapped her fingers. The women who bore the bowls tossed the contents into the air above their heads. The orange-colored powder flew into the sky and burst into fire-red colors. The fireworks display rained down on the trees and crowd along the main street.
Everything the powder touched burst into flame.
The crowd erupted into screams as costumes were ignited. Parents dropped their kids to the ground and rolled them. Others picked up their kids and raced away from the danger before they were engulfed. Orion pulled me into the doorway of Leto's drugstore and Ambigo followed.
The officers flung off their jackets and leapt into the air, partially transformed into bears, tigers and even a jaguar or two. They captured the powder in their jackets and dropped to the ground when their clothes were consumed by fire.
Two dozen of the crowd pulled out their own small crockery. A quick dash of powder and they flung the material into the sky. The powder was blue and it burst into a rain of cool dust that smothered the flames.
Orso pulled his gun on Mirela and aimed the barrel at her head. "Lower your hand, Mirela, or I'll be forced to shoot."
Mirela lowered her hand and grasped the reins. "Do not doubt the transgression against us. It's very real, and we demand justice."
The chief glanced over his shoulder. The crowd was moved halfway down the street. He lowered his weapon and glared at the woman. "I won't argue with you about what you think happened, but let me send over a couple of my people to figure out who did it."
"Only women are allowed there," Mirela reminded him.
Orso nodded. "All right, allow my women officers to accompany you to the burial grounds and inspect the area. Perhaps the vandals left a clue to their identity."
Mirela glanced past the chief. Her hard eyes fell on our little group huddled in the doorway. She nodded at us. "Keep your officers. I would have that man and that-" she leaned closer and squinted at me, "-that strange woman be your representatives."
The chief half-turned to us and arched an eyebrow. "Why them?"
"Because they obey the rules of our pact, and I have no trust in your officers after the recent incident," she told him.
Orso pursed his lips, but beckoned to us. We strode past the police line and over to the leaders. Orso lowered his voice. "You heard everything?" he asked us.
Orion nodded. "Yeah."
"Find out what you can about this story, and get back to me. I don't want this to blow up into a full-fledged war of magic," he instructed his old friend. A slight grin slipped onto his face. "And whatever you do, don't do anything stupid."
Orion smiled. "I make no promises."
Mirela half-turned her horse and studied me. "The gods have deemed it fit that our paths should cross many times this week, and in a terrible guise."
I glared at her. "Or I'm always in the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong gear."
The corners of her mouth twitched upward. "I do not believe in coincidences. Now follow me."
Mirela faced her horse in the direction she came. The group of women mimicked her movements and started the long, solemn march out of town. The trick-or-treaters and their parents relaxed. No doubt the rumor machine would start churning out everything from people murdered to orgies in cemeteries. Pity I didn't write that kind of rag. Business was about to boom.
I glanced at Orion and Ambigo. "Think we should?"
Orion watched their retreating backs with a furrowed brow. "I don't think we have a choice."
We locked in step with the end of the line. The riders trotted to the front once again and we found ourselves behind the torch-and-pitchfork wielding women. Their pace was slow but steady, and soon we had left town for the closed country of the forest.
They led us down the muddy road toward their encampment.
I sidled up to Orion. "So what's this about burial grounds?"
He leaned close to me and lowered his voice to a whisper. "At the start of the settlement of Apple Hollow the gypsies weren't allowed to bury their dead in the old cemetery, so they made their own cemetery. That's the burial grounds."
"Another no-boys-allowed place?" I guessed.
He nodded. "Yeah, and this one's even more strict. The gypsies believe the dead can be manipulated by the living through even a tiny bit of their fingernails, so they guard the place night and day."
I snorted. "If something did happen then I'd say they need a new security system."
Orion pursed his lips. "The women they have guard the cemetery aren't amateurs. It would have to take someone pretty desperate and stupid to trespass on their property."
I arched an eyebrow. "Is this from personal experience or second-hand stories?"
He grinned. "Let's just say my prey wasn't too particular about following the rules."
I leaned away from him and studied his face. "What kind of prey were you after?"
Orion shrugged. "Just a were-cougar who'd been hunting sheep on a nearby ranch."
I smiled. "And here I thought cougars only stalked college men."
"It was revenge against the farmer. He didn't like that she'd tried to seduce his son," he added.
I sighed and shook my head. "So a crime of paranormal passion, huh? Pity I missed that headline."
He chuckled. "You really need to apply for a job at the Daily Brew. They don't know what they're missing out not employing you."
I glanced around at our dark surroundings with the shadowed trees and rustling dead leaves. The chill inside me had faded a bit, but my heart still felt like it was in the grasp of an icy hand. "If we get out of this maybe I will."
An hour of night ticked by and we traveled closer to the encampment. The horsewomen took a right a mile before the main turnoff. The rest of the procession, those women on foot, kept going on to the cam
p. The road up ahead thinned to a grassy path and the trees grew over the way so that the canopy covered the sky.
Mirela waited for us at the turn atop her tall, dark steed. I walked up to her and folded my arms across my chest. "You sure you want to trust a couple of camp robbers with your cemetery?"
She raised her nose up and pursed her lips. "I admit I was wrong in treating you so harshly. You and your man acted honorably when you accepted my challenge, though your fighting style was a little-" her lips twitched, "-unorthodox."
I shrugged. "It comes with being a master of chaos-fu." I jerked my head towards the path. "But what's the problem with your burial grounds?"
She followed my head and pursed her lips. "It isn't far now, and you will see."
Orion clapped a hand on my shoulder and smiled down at me. "That's her way of saying keep walking."
CHAPTER 20
The forest path was grassy and wet. The bottom of my pants were soaked and my chest ached by the time we reached the wooden fence that marked the boundary of the cemetery. The path opened to a small, flat clearing filled with small stone and wood crosses and tombstones. In the center was a large rock with a hole carved into the bottom. The darkness inside the hole suggested a greater depth than the ground. Nothing looked disturbed.
Beside the opening of the wood fence was a bench hewn from the remains of a fallen tree. On the seat were two women in black cloaks with hoods. Judging from their identical looks I guessed they were related. Two others stood to one side of them who were also twins. Mirela tossed her reins to a fellow rider and dismounted.
She led us over to the bench and gestured to the pair on the seat. "These were our guards for this evening." She turned her attention to them. "Tell them what you told me."
One of them bowed her head, but the eyes of the other fell on us. "We have a pattern to our patrol. We had just completed a loop when I felt something sharp bite into my neck. I grabbed my neck and felt a thin object fall between my fingers to the ground. I think it was a small blow dart. I called for my sister-" she nodded at the other woman, "-but the effects of the dart were too much. I collapsed."
The other one raised her head and pursed her lips. "I found my sister on the ground at the far end of the cemetery." She nodded at the spot in the position of two o'clock according to the cemetery entrance. "I tried to wake her, but something hit me in the shoulder. I felt light-headed and fell unconscious."
One of the pair who stood stepped forward. "We found them at the change of shift at dusk."
Orion looked at the sitting pair. "Could we have a look at the spots where you were hit?"
The women glanced at Mirela who nodded. They both stood. One of them turned around and brushed aside her long hair to show the nape of her neck. The other drew off her cloak and pulled down her shirt to show off her shoulder.
The cold over my heart shifted and jumped. An emotion of fear and feeling of nausea washed over me. I clapped my hand over my mouth to keep from throwing up and turned away from the sight.
Orion squinted and frowned. "You're right. These do look like dart marks." He stepped forward and sniffed.
The woman with the shoulder wound slapped him on the cheek hard enough to snap his neck to one side. "Filthy man!" she hissed as they both covered themselves and their tell-tale markings. The cold inside me settled, but it had extended beyond my heart.
Orion winced and stumbled back to my side to rub his neck. There was a sheepish grin on his lips. "I was just trying to get a scent of the dart."
"There's no need," Mirela spoke up. "We have already determined it was a mixture created from hawthorn."
Orion and I glanced at each other. The weapon of choice for the missing skeleton. Orion cracked his neck a couple of times and straightened. "Well, let's get looking at the cemetery."
Mirela stepped in front of us and blocked our path. Her narrowed eyes fell on Orion. "You are not allowed to step foot on the sacred ground, but observe what you can from the road." She turned her attention to me. "You, however, may walk among the graves."
I closed my eyes and shook my head. "I'm a reporter, not a bloodhound. If you want this thing solved you're-"
"We will abide by our ancient rules, and you will try your best," she instructed me.
I pursed my lips and glanced toward Orion. He nodded his head. I sighed and shrugged. "Why not? Lead me to your dead people."
One of the standing twins stepped forward. "I will show you."
I followed my guide through the graveyard to the large stone. The close proximity allowed me to see that primitive stone stairs led into the depths of the earth. She walked down the steps. A faint light at the end of the tunnel gave me promise of a visual future. I pressed my palm against the wall and took each step one at a time.
I'd only made it halfway when a powerful stench hit me. It was pungent and made me light-headed. The woman came back up the stairs. Her lower face was covered by a neckerchief.
She pulled one from her cloak and held it out to me. "Here. This will make you more comfortable.
I accepted the gift and wrapped it over my face. "What is that smell?"
"The scent you smell is hawthorn. The tomb was drenched in it."
She led me the rest of the way down the stairs where I paused and looked up. Above us sat the bottom of the large boulder. In front of us was a small, circular burial chamber lit by a torch set in a holder in the wall.
The place was a mess. Tall gold candlesticks lay on the ground. Their tall white candles lay broken close beside them. A wooden table with a purple cloth was overturned and its legs broken. The cloth had been trampled.
In the center of the room was a stone sarcophagus. The heavy lid was shoved off one side and cracked into pieces. I walked up to the opening and looked inside. A few bits of gold jewelry littered the bottom, but the tomb was otherwise empty. Over the walls was spread a colorless liquid that was the source of the hawthorn stench.
I looked to my guide. Her stony face was tense as she looked at the empty coffin. "Was someone in here?"
She nodded. "Yes. This is the tomb of our ancestress, the first of our leaders who made the pact with your town." She turned her furious eyes on me. "A pact so horribly broken by one of your own."
I held up my hand. "Wait a sec. Don't go pointing fingers until you've got some proof."
She sneered at me. "One of us would never desecrate this sacred place, nor do we own such a primitive weapon as that which was used on my sisters."
I furrowed my brow. An echo of a memory came to mind. "A blow dart. . ." I shut my eyes and bit my lip, but the memory escaped me. I stomped my foot on the ground. "Damn it! Almost had it!"
A long, low howl echoed down the passage. I perked up my ears and frowned. "What was that?"
The woman rolled her eyes. "Your man wishes for you to return to the surface. He pretends to be concerned about you."
I arched an eyebrow at her. "You ever think maybe he really is concerned about me?"
She scoffed. "I highly doubt that."
I shrugged and turned away from her toward the stairs. "You're missing out on a lot of fun."
We resurfaced and I was glad for a breath of fresh air. Orion stood at the entrance to the cemetery. The other female guard stood in front of him.
He cupped his hands over his mouth and called across the expanse. "What did you see?"
I did likewise with my hands and yelled back to him. "A headache!" The fumes from the hawthorn still swam in my head and irritated my nostrils. I glanced around the cemetery. "So any idea where the thief might have gone?" I asked my companion.
My guide nodded at the lower-right corner of the graveyard. The town lay in the same direction. "We followed the hawthorn scent in that direction, but it was lost in the underbrush."
I furrowed my brow and rubbed my chin. "Followed a scent, eh?" My eyes flickered to Orion and a grin slid onto my lips. "I think it's time for a hike."
I strode over to the cemetery entrance. Orion
wrinkled his nose. "Did you get into a fight with a hawthorn tree?"
"A bush, and I won," I retorted as I reached him. I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at the boulder. "Their founder was stolen."
He arched an eyebrow. "There seems to be quite an epidemic of that these days."
"Any of the were-cat people around here into being copycats for a crime, or do you think we have a serial stealer who's a couple of cheerios short of a full box?" I asked him.
Orion shook his head. "I can't say. Most people around here leave the dead alone."
I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. "I wish the dead would leave us alone."
He frowned and stepped up to my side to encompass me in his warm arms. "You okay?"
I shook my head. "No, and it's getting worse." I frowned as the cold within me pulsed with life. "It's almost like he's trying to warn me about something. Like he's pushing me along somewhere."
He pursed his lips and gazed out over the cemetery. "Do they know where the thief went?"
I nodded at the south-easterly direction. "They lost the hawthorn trail in the woods."
Orion grinned. "That sounds like it's my turn to take the reins."
I smiled. "Just don't get bucked off the trail."
He glanced over his shoulder at Mirela and her troupe. "We'll follow the trail. If you want to come along this won't need too many people of your people to help."
She nodded. "Only I will go with you."
The women around her gasped. One of the guards stepped forward. "This thief is brazen and dangerous. Allow me to go with you."
"And me!" shouted a horsewoman.
"I will go!"
Mirela held up her hand and they silenced. "We need stealth for this hunt, and the fewer the number the greater the chance of catching this thief. You will remain here until I return." The women reluctantly bowed their heads. She returned her attention to us. "Let us begin this hunt."
CHAPTER 21
Orion led us at a job down the fence line and into the woods. Even my inexperienced nostrils picked up on the hawthorn scent.
I clapped my hand over my nose as my other arm pumped at my side. "How could the thief stand this smell?"