Bear Naked 4: The Sons of Garm

Chapter 2

Erica turned the corner on the gravel road at the edge of Dubuque. She waved Jonathan on. He was faster then her, a better runner. He'd do another three or four easy miles without her. With anyone else, Erica's competitiveness would have gotten the better of her and she'd have had to push on. But what was the point? He was her pack brother and he was faster. There were plenty of things she could do better. But no one could outrun Jonathan, not even their alpha, Connor.

Besides there was something else she wanted to do. She ran alone, down the edge of town. A graveyard stood at the end of the road. It was mowed but otherwise poorly cared for and most would have thought abandoned. But a handful of new graves stood in one corner.

She felt silly every time she came here. Unlike Amanda and Jay, she hadn't been raised pagan. She'd been raised, nothing, really. She'd been raised by secular parents that attended church functions so rarely that she'd been thirteen before she knew they were technically Lutheran. When she thought of religion at all, it was usually how certain groups used it to hate on gay people like her.

The religion that Amanda practiced, the one that Erica was slowly learning, was so different from what she'd been taught, at times she wasn't sure it was a religion at all. But it helped them cope, deal with things. And that was true for her as well.

They talked to the dead. Mostly around Samhain, the hallowed eve. Erica had grown up with Halloween, the secular version, and no idea what the day really meant. The day the veil between life and death thinned and you could talk to spirits.

But you didn't have to wait for that one day, you could talk to them anytime. You might not hear an answer, but there was still value in the talking.

The grave she stopped at was only a year old. Had it really only been a year ago? It seemed like a lifetime now. The rest of the pack acted like it was a lifetime ago.

Erica sat on the warm ground and picked a blade of grass. She'd forgotten to bring flowers. She hoped Sheryl didn't mind.

"Sorry I haven't been here in awhile. I was in Idaho, you see. Well, I guess you probably know that." It always felt awkward when she first arrived, but then, once she'd been talking awhile, she felt better. So she talked and talked.

Erica hadn't known Sheryl well in life. They'd walked the same halls at Hempstead High. Erica, a werewolf, a lesbian, thought she had some heavy shit in her life. Sheryl death at the hands of that bastard, Stanley, had taught Erica what heavy shit was.

"I haven't forgotten," Erica told Sheryl's grave. "About my vow. I almost had him, too, in Idaho." She'd chased Stanley Garmenson, Sheryl's murderer, for nearly three miles before the others called her back, she'd nipped his heels, tore a piece of his tail out. But she hadn't caught him. "I was so close," she fumed at Sheryl's grave. "So close."

The graveyard was peaceful and still. Erica had always heard that people who were murdered couldn't rest easy in the grave, not until they were avenged. But Erica thought maybe it was the other way around. Sheryl had found her peace. It was Erica that couldn't rest. Not yet.

She breathed deep, trying to feel the peace of the place, let it seep into her bones. She was too wound up. Jazzy had told her that, many times. Not that the little white wolf had any reason to chide Erica for being wound up. She was so excitable, so passionate. But she was also happy go lucky, she took what suffering life threw at her and shook it off. She wondered where Jazzy was, what she was up to now that Erica had moved on.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to come back for awhile," Erica said as she stood. "I'll try to come at least once more before we go, remember to bring flowers this time. Then, well, we've got the council and everything. Jay, he says you can talk to the dead anywhere. I guess I'm not that good at it yet. So I'll just say goodbye for now. But I promise, I will avenge you yet. Those bastards won't just go on killing people. I'll see to it, okay?" Her words done, Erica turned and walked out.