Blue Forest Banshee Part 95
Karma
Wufei touched down gingerly on the wet ground. Trust Trowa to pick some place wet, slimy and disgusting to go exploring. Those big paws were already caked in mud. Wufei ducked under the low-hanging branches, shaking loose a cascade of water droplets.
"Oh, this is ridiculous," he muttered. "There's nothing here; just the chaotic manifestation of a sick mind."
"Wufei... There's something here..."
Yeah; a shitpot load of wet underbrush, wet leaves, wet rocks and wet Wufei. And being as how he was not an aquatic Dragon he did not like being wet.
"There damn well better be something after making me crawl through this mess..."
They were supposed to be going over the cabin, looking for anything that might prove useful, to the authorities in the prosecution of the case, to locating Julie's mother and sister, or in helping Julie regain her sanity. No one really talked about it at the office, but it was understood that Duo cared, in some oddly compassionate way, what happened to that rotten female.
Having found nothing new or interesting inside the building, the carport or storage shed, Trowa had begun sniffing and poking at the surrounding forest. He seemed to feel that they could not go back empty-handed. Wufei fully expected to have to bodily drag the damn cat back to their tele-point. It was only getting worse with the rain.
Trowa stood in the middle of a small open space between some trees, curiously intent on nothing Wufei could see. "What am I feeling here?" he asked as Wufei broke through the tangled vegetation, immediately lifting off from the soaked earth.
"What are you feeling? How the hell would I know what you're feeling? They're your feelings, idiot."
"No... There's something here... Something... strange..."
"The only strange thing here is you, pussy cat," Wufei grumbled, floating toward him.
"I can feel it... but I don't recognize it... Help me out, Fei."
The Were-Dragon rolled his eyes in exasperation and puffed out a pink smoke ball. "If you dragged me through this mess on a feeling, I'm going to peel your tail."
Trowa shifted his feet apprehensively. "There is something here," he repeated eyeing the ground.
Wufei huffed and made a show of concentrating. "Nope; nothing but the usual background noise."
Trowa glanced up and snorted. "Of course not; you're hovering. Come down where you can feel properly."
Wufei rolled his eyes again, accompanied by a put-upon sigh. He sank to the ground and high-stepped over to the Were-Puma.
"I don't feel a thing," he began.
Trowa twitched suddenly. "There!" He slapped his massive paw on the ground. "Right there! Feel it, dammit; there is something there!" He head-butted Wufei onto the spot. "See?!"
"For gods' sake, you lunatic feline, there is nothing -!" Wufei snarled, and stopped in mid-sentence. His eyes widened. His jaw dropped with a strangled squawk. He leapt into the air as if scalded.
"I told you there was something here!" cried Trowa backing away from the spot on the ground, the fur along his spine lifting in agitation.
"Holy shit!" yelled the Were-Dragon. "There is something there!"
"We better call Q."
~*~
The Wizard Q ducked under the dripping branches following Trowa's sleek golden form. If he looked through the trees and concentrated, he could just barely make out the redwood-colored siding of the cottage. Funny how near that color was to the color of dried blood. He shook his head absently; no, he didn't need to revisit that moment of stepping into that horrifying charnel house, thank you.
That absurd girl... What a horrid thing to do to someone, even in her twisted logic. Thinking that about Duo; about any man. The thought of such appalling misinformation floating about in the collective consciousness just gave him a headache.
Trowa stopped and waited for him to catch up. "It's right over there," he said quietly. "It feels... bad, I think..." he offered. "And I think it's Human..."
Q was not a Wizard given to wild flights of imagination; neither were his investigators. And Q was quite comfortably sure that the Magical Creatures in the office were often more in tune with the supernatural than he or the other Wizards and Witches might be.
He crossed to the spot of bare earth amongst the fallen leaves and needles. He noted that Trowa had backed up, away from the spot.
Oh.
He blinked and looked down at the ground under his feet.
Oh... dear...
He had a flash of memory not his own. Pictures. Emotions. A festering jealousy. Fear; evil; pain; a surge of unimaginable violence.
Q swallowed the bile rising in his throat and stepped quickly away from the spot. Oh, yes; Trowa and Wufei were most definitely correct. Something very bad, very evil permeated this small area. And Q now knew both its form and its scope.
He opened his cellphone and dialed the number of the female Sheriff's detective.
"Ms. Anderson; this is Quatre Raberba Winner. My investigators have made a discovery that you need to see."
Trowa crouched on the edge of the small clearing, eyeing the bare spot on the ground. Wufei wouldn't even come this far again; cowardly lizard. He was huddled under a tree by the road, wild-eyed and shaking. Trowa wished he hadn't had to come back here either, but it was his duty. As well, he wanted this whole thing to be over, for Duo's sake. It would also, he was comfortably sure, wrap up the loose ends of the Sheriff's case. It might or might not help Julie; that really depended on the psychiatric help she was now getting. He didn't think Duo wanted her imprisoned, but she was probably better off where she was.
"I can't tell you, exactly," Q was saying when Trowa returned his attention to the Wizard. "You need to come here and bring a coronary team. No, we don't want to disturb the scene any more than we already have." He sighed soundlessly, clearly becoming annoyed. "Ms. Anderson; I can always notify the media, if you're too busy." It had the desired effect. "Thank you, Ms. Anderson; I will expect you within the hour." His threat to call the media lingered clearly.
He closed his phone and went to crouch beside Trowa. "You and Wufei have done a very good thing."
Trowa snorted lightly. "Wufei is having a case of the vapors out on the road. Wuss. I thought Dragons were supposed to be tougher than that." He wasn't really angry at Wufei, just still unsettled and anxious. He didn't want to be this close to the bare spot on the ground any more than the Were-Dragon did, but someone had to direct Q to the proper place.
Q laid his hand on Trowa's burnished head, rubbing lightly. "Wufei... is a good deal more sensitive than he wants the world to know. It's all right; in fact, if you would like to go back to the road, you may. Someone will need to direct the officials when they arrive."
Trowa shook his head; that would be the height of rudeness, to leave Q to wait here alone. "I'll stay. It's not so bad with company," he said softly.
They settled into a companionable silence.
~*~
It took almost twelve hours. The detective, not a Witch, but having a few in the family, was just sensitive enough to discern the "wrongness". Within two hours they had canopies up and high-powered lights illuminating the scene. Digging started immediately. Q could have made short work of the excavation, but it was out of his official jurisdiction, and he didn't presume to interfere any more than he already had. This was a Human crime; it was the privilege of the sheriff's office to deal with it.
A call to the MIO brought everyone available, including Duo and Heero, as interested parties. Tiffany arranged for coffee, hot chocolate and pastries in a separate, magically produced tent. Photos and videos were taken every step of the way. Duo huddled under Heero's arm, looking small and young and terrified, but he absolutely refused to leave; he actually snarled when Heero suggested it. Heero Glared at the growing hole in the ground. The miasma of fear, anger and raw, vindictive evil grew with each shovel of dirt removed.
When the remains were finally unearthed, Duo's knees buckled and he came near to passing out. Heero gave an inhuman roar and morphed, folding his huge wings protectively around his Chosen. Q blanched with a grimace; Tiffany's hands went to her mouth and she squeezed her eyes shut with a whimper. Trowa crouched in a tight, tense golden ball at the back of the tent, fur standing straight up all over his muscular body. Wufei made an undignified noise and dropped hard to the ground to huddle miserably against the Were-Puma.
Detective Anderson swallowed, staring into the excavation. "We have to run... tests. We don't know anything yet..." But it was understood that tests would be formalities, to comply with the law.
A deputy looked at her. "We can probably stop looking, though."
"Yeah," she agreed reluctantly. "Probably."
TBC...
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