The cool dew saturated the entire forest as the morning fog evaporated and crept away.

Ginny Mack patrolled the north woods of the Tasanari’s villa right before the spring sunrise streamed over the horizon. Her trusty rifle rested on her left shoulder and her favorite Stetson secured light brown hair. It had been two nights and three days since the newlyweds departed. Seravina and Todd , her uncle, decided to enjoy time alone on the estate, with no interference from the outside world. Vuthbert had traveled, as security, with Mario and Emmy, her cousin, to their destination: a remote cabin in the Appalachian Mountains.

The sharpshooter admired the etched gold ring on her right hand. Emmy gave it to her during the reception. She and Emmy reconciled after their argument before the wedding. Yankees, always think their right. Ginny rolled her eyes and adjusted her hat. She liked the east, but it was too chaotic. She longed for the peace of Wingo, her hometown and her new life there. The Tasanari’s were fine people, for city folk, but they had all overstayed their welcome.

Vuthbert came to mind and she sighed. His subtle and silent cues to her were hilarious and mysterious. Bert was a challenge; she liked challenges. Tammy got so annoyed by the ogre. Before he departed, he had given Ginny a slender dagger carved from an animal bone. She felt for the hand-stitched alligator sheath and removed the knife. She admired the intricate details , balance, and craftsmanship of the weapon. She maneuvered it around in the air, like he had taught her, and then replaced it. Bert claimed the dagger was beautiful and deadly. She had asked him, ‘Is that what ya think of me?’ He raised his left eyebrow. Ginny blushed.

A twig snapped and a curse grumbled from the darkness.

Ginny whipped out her .45 caliber revolver from her right hip and flashed a tactical light into the blackness with her left hand.

“Better put your hands up, or I’m gonna blow you away.”

The shadow shielded its eyes and jumped back in surprise with hands up.

“Ginny, it’s me Tammy, Tammy Jablonski.”

“What are ya doin’ out here? You don’t relieve me for another hour.” She lowered the light but removed a watch from her side pocket. She clicked it open and it illuminated her face in a green glow. “Actually two hours.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to bump into you here. I thought you’d be on the other ridge. I’m a bit restless. Figured I would relieve you early.” Tammy put her hands down. “Just anxious about Mario and Emmy’s return. It’s been such a whirlwind; I don’t really know my role anymore. You know?”

Ginny closed the watch and holstered her weapon.

“Been there before.”

The flashlight illuminated the path and they walked together.

Tammy said, “I had my whole NYPD career mapped out. Two years as a desk jockey, two on patrol, a detective, and then captain. My life has been turned inside out and upside down with all this magic stuff and funky creatures. I just don’t know what to do.”

“I understand,” Ginny replied, “I was in my beloved Oklahoma and bam! I’m in Brooklyn.” She smiled at Tammy. “You miss it don’t ya, New York?”

“So much. The country is great but a tree is a tree, a bird is a bird. I really miss the city noises: the bustling people, the car horns blazing, the clickety clack of the subway, the rhythm of the living city, and the wonderful aromas of amazing food.”

Ginny said, “You’ll be back there before you know it, but now with a higher purpose. You’ll be just fine.”

“I just want it to go back the way it was, you know?”

“Yeah, I get it.”

Tammy perked up.

“Did your uncle give you his watch while he was away?”

“Nope.” She proudly pulled it out again. “This is my very own. It was my father’s watch. Todd has been showing me how to use it.”

The watch flashed red and then orange before it returned to green.

“Huh?” Ginny scratched her head. “Wonder why it did that?”

“Did whats?” Tammy asked and reached toward the ground.

“As soon as I opened it and turned it toward…”

Tammy raised a large branch and struck Ginny on the base of her skull. She crumbled to the leaves with a hollow thud.

**********

Ginny jumped awake and thought a snake was slithering around her waist. Her hands and ankles were tied up with a heavy duty rope. Her head throbbed, her hat had disappeared, and her mouth gagged. A cold chill ran down her spine. Her bare feet were freezing. Bare feet! Tammy tightened the rope around a birch tree and her waist. The police officer placed her mutinous boot covered right foot on the tree and pulled the restraint taut. Ginny glared at the traitor. She winced and then grunted at her captor.

“I had no choice,” Tammy said, “I’m sorry, Ginny. You have been great, but Ms. Josie promised to clear my memories of all this, this crap, and make me human again.”

Ginny stared at her stolen custom leather cowboy boots and growled.

“They fit perfect and look good.” Tammy boasted. “I know why you love them, but you won’t be needing them, so.”

Ginny’s puzzled face allowed Tammy to continue.

“On the night Emmy was shot, the spider creatures must have spit on me. Probably, when we ran through the park” She tossed Ginny’s rifle and revolver into the woods. “I thought I had a rash from being in the woods. I am deadly allergic to poison ivy. The black mark grew worse and then I became a monster! I have lost half my teeths.”

Ginny cringed at the grotesque smile.

“The physical strength is awesome, but I just sucked a baby dear dry not two hundred feet from heres. It’s horrifyings!”

Ginny groaned more questions.

“While Josie was in the house, she recognized I had become this thing. She had pity on me and used her magics on me and healed me. She promised to heal me completely if I got her this.” She showed Ginny the pocket watch. “This is my ticket to my old lifes.” She kissed it.

Ginny protested and struggled to get free.

“Sorry again, Ginny, but a girl gotta do what a girl gotta do. My spider side wants to eats you, but my human side can’t kill you. So, I tied you up near the den of my coyotes. They can finish the job.”

Ginny snarled her thanks.

“Just one more things.” Tammy smirked.

Ginny glanced up.

“Night, nights.”

A club smashed Ginny unconscious again.

**********

Strange voices and growling surrounded Ginny in the darkness. It smelled like wet dog and pine, yet warm and comfortable: the coyote’s den. She opened her eyes to a complete black interior, so she shut them. The more she listened to the growls, the more she understood. She translated the animal noises and yips into the hissing of broken words and phrases.

“Tam Tams want us not eats girls, tils Tam Tams howls.” The loudest coyote said,

“Girls must be awake before wees eats her.”

Another coyote snarled, “Tam Tams nots here. She not knows.”

A third one said, “Pack hungry. Pack musts eats.”

“Lets wakes girls up, then wees eats.” A fourth one said.

“No! Tam Tams musts howls first. Tam Tam alpha.” The loud one growled.

“Sounds like you alphas, Scruff.” A fifth one snapped.

The other beasts howled in agreement.

“Yous talk braves now, Skunk,” Scruff replied, “buts yous wets yous fur whens Tam Tam attacks us.”

The other coyotes snickered at Skunk.

“Remembers,” Scruff said, “Tam Tams promises us big magics if wees waits until girls awake. Thens we attacks at dusk with others. Wees waits for howls. Eats rabbits if hungries. Skunk! Outsides! Now!”

Ginny heard a loud jaw snap and a high pitched whimper. The pack scampered outside probably to hunt or fight. The den was silent. Ginny considered her deadly predicament: Tarachtan Tammy had promised the coyotes Ginny’s magic, but human Tammy had given her a chance, a scorpion’s chance against her rifle, yet a chance. Her wrists and ankles were still tied. If she conjured a blue orb, the coyotes would see it and pounce on her. She remembered and searched for the bone knife. It was still there.

The prisoner removed it from the sheath and placed it between her feet. The sharp blade sliced the bonds with ease. With her hands free, Ginny cut the leg restraints. She untied the bandanna gag, but remade it to cover over her nose and mouth. She slipped the knife in her left hand and slowly crawled toward the sound of fighting canines. As she inched closer to the snarling, bits of sunlight guided her to the elusive exit. Inch by inch, she silently reached the opening.

The captive peeked over the edge and spotted the pack, just fifty feet away, in a fighting circle. She counted at least ten jackals. Scruff, the loud one, had been thrashing a coyote with black and white fur, Skunk. In the soft light, Ginny created and hid an electric orb in her right hand. She crawled out of the den undetected and stood. She readied to launch the orb into the woods as a distraction, but her gold ring absorbed the power. The orb vanished.

A distant coyote howl grabbed everyone’s attention and halted the fight. The entire pack froze, closed their angry eyes, lifted their wicked heads, and responded with a chilling chorus.

Ginny used the distraction and stepped behind the den unseen. As the coyotes’ song continued, she bolted west back to the mountain villa. Her long running strides through the leaves and branches would be detected in seconds. Her eyes spotted an old maple tree a hundred yards away. If she could reach it, before the pack began their pursuit, she could climb up high and hide. Ginny sprinted as loud howls and intense shrieks from the wild creatures deafened her ears.

Scruff bellowed, “Gets her yous fools, sniffs her out. Finds the magics!”

Fifty yards.

Forty yards.

Thirty yards.

The young lady toppled in the air.

Ginny’s weary legs tripped on a rotten log and she ingloriously crashed into a slimy pile of leaves. Instant pain pulsed from her left ankle. She restrained a scream of agony. Sticky leaves clung to her sweat drenched hair and clothes.

The pack rushed to the abrupt sound with their reckless paws thundering toward her position. She could not escape. Ginny closed her eyes as the bloodthirsty wild dogs sprinted directly at her. Tears cascaded to the brown foliage as she remembered the good times with her uncle and Bert. The coyotes sprung into the air with ravenous teeth bared and bulging eyes.

Two dozen canines rummaged around the leaves and sniffed the air around her. Ginny did not move a muscle. The pack whimpered, cried, and turned around in circles.

“Wheres girls?” Scruff barked.

He howled directly in Ginny’s face, but turned away and bit Skunk on the rear.

The tortured coyote yelped and ran off. Scruff snarled at the rest of the jackals.

“Shes here. Finds her! Or yous out of the…”

A clear beautiful trumpet blast echoed in the valley.

All the beasts lifted their heads up in surprised fear. A second blaring created havoc and whimpers among the terrified coyotes. The final boom of the horn forced Ginny to cover her ears and the pack fled deep into the forest away from the torturous sound waves.

Vuthbert appeared moments later. He ran toward her in pursuit of the coyotes. Ginny yelled for her friend, but the ogre ignored her and lumbered past. He placed his left hand over his mouth and nose and trumpeted another blast from the black horns swirled around his ears. He vanished over the eastern ridge. Ginny struggled to her feet and screamed in tears. Several branches and twigs moved behind her.

She spun around to see Emmy and Mario jogging toward her. They each held a sword and a blue electric orb. Ginny hollered and waved her arms, but they did not hear or see her. The couple’s orbs flew out of their hands and landed at Ginny’s feet. Ginny reached down and cautiously touched one sphere.

Boom!

The ball violently rattled and exploded into blue shock waves which blasted the three humans deeper into the woods.

***********

A lone black and white coyote spotted three bodies laying still among the dark forest debris. Sniffing around each body, Skunk lifted his head to howl to the pack, but paused. A devious smile crossed his tarachtan face.

“Skunk, find three magics; Skunk gets all praises and all the powers. Skunk be alphas. Tam Tams and Masters wants Emmys untouched. Two magics for mees.”

Skunk salivated over the possibilities. His head swayed back and forth between Ginny and Mario’s unconscious bodies. As he stepped toward the man, four black tentacles emerged through his mangy fur along his spine. Saliva dripped from the hungry coyote’s lower jaw as he moved closer to Mario. His instinct was to rip out the man’s throat, but the tentacles instructed the coyote to feast another way. The creature drooled as he stood over the prey. A single drop escaped and crawled to the exposed human hand. The skin sizzled and blackened.

A twig broke. Skunk turned around too late.

An indigo electric ball slammed into the surprised canine and sent him flying thirty feet into the woods. The coyote cried out when it crashed.

“Stay away from my husband, evil creature!” Emmy yelled from the forest floor.

The creature jumped up with smoking fur and charged his attacker.

“Time to dies, Emmys!” Skunk screamed and leapt at her.

Emmy created a body shield in the nick of time. As the coyote landed on the magical barrier, she extended her legs and pushed the shield and the dog back in the air over her head. The tarachtan landed on its tentacles and rushed her again.

Before it could reach her, a silver sword sliced through the air and beheaded the beast. The snarling coyote’s head and body materialized into a white salt pillar. The twisted remains fell and shattered on the dry leaves.

Mario said, “No one messes with my wife.”

“Why do they all know my flippin’ name?” Emmy said and turned to Mario. “You look heroic.”

He shrugged and ran to his wife’s side.

“Thanks. I didn’t know you could make a shield.”

Emmy dusted off her pants. “Vina showed me. Hey, what’s wrong with your hand?”

Mario lifted his left hand and two fingers were covered in dark spots.

“Ouch! I don’t know. It burns.”

“It is the mark of the tarachtan.” Bert’s deep baritone startled them both. “Princess Emmy place an orb around the sickness. Now!”

Emmy obeyed and electricity surrounded the digits.

“Prince Mario, you have been infected with the creature’s saliva which is incurable. The magic will only slow the progress. If I do not cut it out, you will become a horrible beast.”

“I understand.” Mario winced. “Like surgery?”

“No. I must sever your fingers now. If we linger, then the hand or forearm.”

Emmy protested, “No! There has to be another way!”

“There is no time.” Bert said. “Kill the fingers, save the man.”

“Do it Vuthbert.” Mario said. “I don’t need fingers for dancing with my wife.”

“As you wish.” The ogre unsheathed his blood-stained dagger. “Emmy, use your magic to push back the darkness. Once I cut, the sparks shall seal the wound.”

Emmy grunted and increased her power against the infection. She removed the black from the ring finger. Mario smiled at her. But the hideous filth counterattacked and recaptured the finger and dominated the entire hand. Mario winced.

Without warning, the magic surged and the plague retreated back to the pinky.

“Do it now, Bert!” Ginny said, “I can’t hold it much longer!”

The purple giant severed the ebony finger from Mario’s body. The young man cried out and fell to the ground in agony. Emmy embraced her man. In exhaustion, Ginny leaned against her ogre friend.

“Did you get all the jackals?”

The ogre raised his left eyebrow. He scooped up all three in his massive arms and sprinted back to the mountain house.

“Thanks,” Ginny said, “It’s been one helluva mornin’.”