Chapter 21 – Evidence

  “It’s events like these that remind us why summoning is so tightly reguted.” – Jay, commenting on Penny’s after-action report.

  Kurt and Val returned to the officers who were still where they left them. Chief Henry appeared relieved that Kurt was no longer in his werewolf form. The other two officers didn’t look so relieved and kept back as the chief hesitantly stepped forward.

  “Kurt… um.” He hesitated, looking to the body that was beginning to rapidly break down. “Thank you. I don’t want to think of how we would do against something like that.”

  “Don’t mention it.” Kurt said. “Seriously, don’t. I don’t need people knowing about this.” He shot a meaningful look toward the officers behind Henry.

  Henry nodded and they began making their way to the clearing, stopping by the body on the way. It was beginning to turn into a mush, releasing a smell that reminded Kurt of raw oil. Beings like the wendigo were strange. Their bodies didn’t persist after death like most supernatural creatures on earth. Some said that was proof they weren’t from their realm, instead they were invaders that preyed on the vulnerable.

  They moved on to the clearing, letting the creature’s own nature take care of its remains. Back in the clearing, Kurt and Val could finally get a proper look at it. The ‘collection’ was still there but they noticed a few more details from up close. As they approached the nest, one of the officers suddenly bolted for the edge of the open area and vomited into the trees. Kurt didn’t bme him, he wanted to do the same.

  The nest and its contents were in various stages of decay as nature took its course. Some of the remains had clearly been eaten, judging by cleaned bones in a pile on one side. Kurt tried to ignore the sight of dismembered people and focused on the pile of belongings.

  There was a lot of clothing, most of it cut and torn apart, like the wendigo skinned its victims out of their clothes before repeating the process on their flesh. In a small pile to one side of the clothes were smaller items. Phones, watches, wallets and the like were all piled up haphazardly, with no regard to their function.

  Val had let go of Kurt’s hand as they approached, walking over to the rge mostly ft rock in the center. “Hey, you might want to see this.” She said, grabbing their attention from the grisly sight before them. Kurt was first to climb up and see what she was looking at.

  Marked out and carved into the rock was a ritual circle. Tools had been used to carve an inch deep impression on every part of the circle. Kurt could faintly make out some red-brown staining that looked like blood in the grooves. He naturally couldn’t smell it over all the other blood in the clearing.

  “Any idea what it was supposed to do?” Val asked.

  Kurt looked up to her from where he crouched. “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t think they intended to summon a wendigo that likely killed all of them. I think they might have been trying to conduct another ritual.” She pointed to the items on the other side of the circle.

  Kurt stood and walked over, careful to avoid touching the circle as he inspected the items. There was a leather-bound book, several candles spilling from a satchel, a ceremonial knife and what looked like a pendant of some sort.

  “Call Penny. They need to get some people out here to break this and try to figure out what happened.” He said after trying to view the circle from a few different angles. Val pulled out her phone and began making the call.

  Henry came over and got his attention. “I think Val might be right about summoning gone wrong. As you see they left their things.” He nodded to the ritual items near the circle. “But there is also these.” He then pointed to the clothes pile.

  Not able to see what he was pointing to, Kurt just asked. “What am I supposed to see here?”

  “Look at the first yer of clothes on the ground.”

  Hopping down from the rock, Kurt walked over and saw that the first yer of clothes was made from a bck fabric. The fabric was trimmed with silver piping and was of decent quality from what he could see. As he looked around without touching, he noticed that there were several sets of it.

  “Robes.” Kurt said after the shape and style finally clicked in his mind.

  Val walked back over and joined him in looking at the pile of personal effects. “A containment team is on its way. They should…” A fsh of blue and a familiar ring rose upward from the round.

  9 people materialized a foot off the ground before dropping down after the ring rose above them. Kurt noted that one of the people let out a little yelp before nding poorly and stumbling to the side, swearing up a storm.

  The local officers reached for their weapons when the light appeared but rexed after seeing the uniformed people spread out. Val pointed them to the rock, and they immediately converged on the ritual site. After several minutes of them all walking around the circle, one of the dwarves came over to Kurt and filled them all in.

  “Hey, hi. So, looks like this was an attempt to make a permanent ritual or gate but there was some rather unfortunate math’s applied. They didn’t factor in several things and ended up turning a binding ritual into a summoning ritual.” The short woman rattled off in rapid fire what her team had found. Kurt had to listen close to make out what she was saying in her heavy central American accent.

  She continued after taking a much-needed breath. “So, we should have this all cleaned up in the next few minutes. Gonna break the circle and apply an industrial strength acid to melt the surface. Not much we can to about the new look, but weather and pnts should take care of it before long.”

  Kurt looked to Val then the officers before returning his attention to the dwarf. “Need us for anything?”

  “Nah, we got this one.” She said, waving her hand as she turned around and headed back to the other ritualists.

  Val then turned to Henry. “Ok, the rest is on you. Let us know what you find, and we can push it back to our investigation team. They might reach out directly, but I doubt it.” She grabbed Kurt’s hand and began to pull him back in the direction they had come from.

  “Wait!” The chief shouted. “What about them?” He hiked his thumb over his shoulder toward the ritualists.

  “They will leave the same way they got here.” She called back and they began walking out of the woods. “I am cold, wet and hungry. We don’t need to stick around for them to figure out how to collect evidence. Plus, you need to eat.” She said after getting a little farther away.

  Kurt neither could nor would refute her assessment and after 45 minutes of fast walking, they made it back to where they parked. Naturally, in accordance with Murphy’s Law, the rain stopped as they reached the gravel road they parked on.

  When they got to the car, Val put up an illusion and they both stripped out of their clothes and equipment, quickly patting dry with towels. Kurt had to put his in a trash bag since they were covered in blood, both his and the wendigo’s. They changed into fresh clothes, and she pushed him toward the passenger side while shoving a bag of beef jerky and a soda into his hands.

  When he looked at her with a raised eyebrow she just pointed to his food. “Eat, you got hurt and need to fuel that regeneration.”

  “Do you know how to get back?” He asked after climbing into the seat.

  Val started the car, adjusted the seat and put it in gear. “Nope, but you make a pretty good GPS.”

  Sighing, Kurt opened the co bottle. “Turn left when you hit the asphalt road.” And he started eating. She was naturally correct, and he needed the calories. He already felt tired and sore in his leg and face. The wounds were completely healed but radiating aches and pains still cropped up in those areas.

  “So, how was it?” Val asked after 5 minutes of Kurt stuffing his face. “The transformation I mean. Was it better with the nanobots?”

  Kurt finished chewing and swallowed. “Yeah, didn’t hurt at all. I am a little sore but not nearly as much as when I shifted in the past.” He paused for a minute. “Listen, I’m sorry you had to see that.” He honestly regretted having to shift and finish the wendigo in such a brutal fashion.

  “Hey, its ok. I knew you are a wolf, and I was kind of prepared for it after talking to Alec.” Val said after reaching out to squeeze his hand. “And yeah, half of me was saying to run away but the other half was telling me to stay.” Truth be told, it was telling her more than ‘stay’ but she didn’t share that with Kurt.

  “Than…thanks.” Kurt said with a little hitch in his voice. “That really means a lot.” It was a relief to him that she accepted him after seeing his other half.

  Val smiled at him, gncing over quickly. “Together. We are together now. I know you will support me the same way if I need it.”

  Returning her other hand to the steering wheel, Val finished driving them back to the house. Well, they made a quick stop and picked up some pizza on the way, since it was past dinner time and neither of them felt like cooking.

  When they pulled up the driveway, they saw Penny waiting for them on the porch as they pulled up. Kurt hopped out with the pizzas while Val parked in front of the house. “Evening Penny.” Kurt said after opening the door. “We should get you a key at some point.”

  Penny held the door while he navigated through with the boxes. “It’s really not necessary. I just wanted to stop in and debrief you while everything is still fresh.”

  Kurt deposited the pizza on the counter before walking back out the door to grab the gear out of the car. Kurt dropped his bag of blood-stained clothes outside and carried his equipment down the stairs. Penny followed along, grabbing one of the bags from the back of the truck.

  “Val, I got a boot dryer in the unfinished room. Can you plug that in and put or shoes on it?” Kurt asked and got a thumbs up in response as she dropped her gear in the middle of the workshop and pced her rifle on the workbench.

  “I can empty out the vests if you get started on the other stuff.” Penny offered, starting to pull magazines and equipment out of pouches and setting them on the empty wire shelves to dry. Within a few minutes, the gear was either drying or dried. Rifles put back, batteries on chargers and extra equipment returned to its lockers.

  They walked back up the stairs and Kurt grabbed beer from the fridge while Val got ptes and Penny carried the pizza over to the table. With the table set and butts in chairs, they began the debrief.

  Penny had them give a general accounting of the events, starting with them contacting Chief Henry. They then walked her through each leg of the mission but did have them gloss over the actual fight and the collection. It seemed that Penny could be a bit squeamish.

  After asking some questions about how the police reacted and their general specutions, she put away her ptop and focused on finishing her first slice of, now cold, pizza. She ate quickly, chatting a little but otherwise keeping the conversation light. After she finished, Penny made her excuses and left, seeing how tired her agents were.

  Kurt and Val were tired, the stress and exhaustion finally settling on them after they sat down. Kurt went and put the leftovers in the fridge and went to grab their still wet gear to put in the undry. Val went and started a shower, taking his advice and grabbing a cold beer on her way.

  He went back down the stairs to grab soft goods. On his way through the kitchen again Kurt had to backtrack, remembering that Val had left her bag of wet clothes outside where he dropped his ruined ones. When he poked his head out the door, he noticed his bag was gone and figured Penny took it to repce the clothing.

  By the time he loaded and started the washer, Val was done and already drying her hair. He snagged his own shower beer and headed for the bathroom. She gnced up at him in the mirror as he slid by, commenting on him turning on the water.

  “Not going to wait till I’m done?” she said with a grin.

  “Nope.” And he pulled off his sweatshirt, dropped his shorts and stepped under the steaming water. As soon as it hit him, he groaned, finally realizing how tense his muscles were.

  Val commented on the noise after turning off her hair dryer. “Really hits the spot, huh?”

  “I just didn’t realize how sore I was still.” He admitted. After standing under the water for a minute, he finally started washing up.

  After rinsing the shampoo from his hair, Kurt remembered a question he had. “Hey Val. How did you get your tail and ears so dry already?”

  Pausing the hairdryer, she looked over to him. “I just put them away when I get in, under normal circumstances anyway. Today was different and I cast a spell to shed water. It’s one of the few non illusion spells I know.” The little tidbit of information got him thinking and he finished his shower with the thought of a spell based, full body dryer in mind.

  After they finished up, they both just climbed into bed. The hour was te and neither had the mental energy for anything else that day. Val of course snuggled in close to Kurt, rubbing against him as they settled in for the night.

  That night, Val just wanted to be held and Kurt just wanted to hold her. Something about the encounter had unsettled them and they instinctively sought out each other finding comfort in the embrace.

  When they woke up the next morning it was still dark out, likely because they went to bed so early. Val had a message on her phone from Penny saying they didn’t have any pending tasks for the day and to ‘pursue personal projects’.

  The personal project at that exact moment was making coffee and enjoying a sunrise. It was a spectacur one due to the fog covering the ground and the light clouds in the east casting long bands of red and orange. Kurt tried his best to ignore the old adage about ‘red skies in morn’ and just enjoy the moment.

  Kurt had just started breakfast when he looked out the window and saw Penny walking up. Val noticed and looked up from her tablet where she had been reading something.

  “Morning Penny.” She called as their handler stepped inside.

  Kurt just looked over and asked a simple question. “Breakfast?” Penny looked hesitant for a moment, so he just took that as a yes and pulled out another pan.

  The menu that morning was omelets with hashbrowns for the girls and hard-boiled eggs with oatmeal for Kurt. He turned around after pting the food and delivered it to the girls. Penny watched him put salt, pepper and cayenne in a small bowl for his eggs while Val tucked in.

  “Um, want some?” he asked after noticing her stare. He held out the shakers to her and she hesitantly took them.

  He then sprinkled some brown sugar on his oatmeal and set his pce at the isnd to eat. “What brings you in today? Here to supervise out ‘personal projects’?” Kurt asked with a little ugh.

  “Um no.” she said while tasting a dash of the cayenne pepper. Apparently, she really liked it since she sprinkled a good amount over her omelet. “I actually came to tell you to just do as you normally would. I realized after Val responded that you might not know what I meant.”

  “Do tell.” Val said, talking around a mouthful of hashbrown.

  Penny looked slightly disturbed at the sight but continued on. “I mean that you can consider it an ‘on call day’. You don’t need to wait around for us to call you but can go run errands, work on personal projects, ze around. But don’t be surprised if you get called back.”

  Kurt nodded. It made sense to him, and he didn’t mind. There were a few things he wanted to get done and a getting weekend stuff done a day early sounded good to him. What he wasn’t quite ready for was Val’s question.

  “Want to hang out with us?” She asked.

  With a fork full of food paused halfway to her mouth, Penny looked from Kurt to Val and back a few times before answering with a question. “Um, if you wouldn’t mind. I don’t mean to intrude and can busy…”

  They never found out what she would busy herself with since Val cut her off. “Great! Kurt, you wanted to run some errands, right? Like groceries and some furniture?”

  “I was saving it for the weekend but its fine with me.” Looking at Val’s face he just couldn’t say no, it was one step away from sad puppy eyes. Not that he would say no. He liked Penny and honestly didn’t mind her hanging around or sudden visits through the portal.

  They finished breakfast and got ready. For Kurt and Val that meant putting on real clothes while Penny was already in her normal office attire.

  “Penny, do you want to change? Like you don’t have to do the whole business formal thing.” Kurt suggested after he put on jeans and a t shirt. She hesitated for a moment until Val grabbed her arm and dragged her into the bedroom.

  Kurt ended up waiting and checking his phone for a few minutes until the girls returned. Apparently, Val and Penny were of simir size because their handler was changed into jeans and a fnnel shirt.

  A short while ter, they had piled into the car and were on their way into town. Interestingly, Penny decided to sit in the middle of the back seat, rather than picking a side like most people. Val asked about it and she said that she like to see where they were going, like it should be obvious.

  They pulled into the parking lot of the same furniture store that they had used previously. It was a little busier than the st time but there was still plenty of room. They piled out and started walking inside, seeing Dan standing behind the counter again.

  Upon seeing Kurt and Val, the salesman walked over his same easy smile on his face. “Welcome back. There isn’t a problem with the furniture is there?” He sounded genuinely concerned as he asked the question.

  “Ah no.” Val said. “It’s just that its now the guest room furniture.”

  Dan nodded sagely. “And now you want to change the master bedroom set?” He said with a surprisingly accurate assumption.

  This time Kurt was the one to speak up. “We actually have the same set in both but would like to change out the bed in the master to a king size and get another dresser.” He made the statement as neutrally as possible, but Dan was clearly good at reading between lines.

  With a smirk the salesman leaned in. “Congratutions are in order I see.” He chuckled at his own joke as Penny turned a shade of red almost identical to a tomato. “Did you buy the current bed from us? If so, let me know the size and we can give you a discount with an exchange. I can look it up for you and get exact prices.”

  Kurt patted his pockets. “AH, I left my note pad in the car. Hang on and I’ll go grab it.” He began to head for the door. “Be right back.” The girls stayed and Val chatted with Dan, introducing Penny to the personable salesman.

  When Kurt reached the door, he stopped, staring at his car. There were two people looking around while loitering next to it. He watched from just beyond the entrance way as a third man walked around from the back with another tablet.

  The three strangers had a conversation before walking off to an older jeep parked at the edge of the lot and climbed in, not making any moves to pull out of the lot. Kurt watched for a few more seconds before turning around and walking back into the store.

  He returned to the counter where he left the group. “Hey, I must have left it at home. Can you look it up for me?” Kurt asked, getting a strange look from Val. He softly shook his head, mouthing the word ‘ter’ before nodding at Dan who had begun typing in his computer.

  If his suspicion was right, they were in for some excitement during their little outing.