Chapter 11

They both woke up early the next morning, not really wanting to start the day, but dreading the thought of missing a single moment together. They ate the cinnamon rolls that Casey had made and smiled to each other at the breakfast table, but neither said a word. They maneuvered around each other just like a married couple does after several years of being together. Not needing words for each other to understand, or simply one was already handing the other what they needed before asking for it.

Finally Casey had to get out and start preparing for the trip; she needed some specialized supplies for going into the high country.

"Casey, why don't you split the shopping list and I'll help you get everything ready?"

"I thought you had classes today?"

"I called last night and they gave me one more day. So I'm yours for as long as you need me, Luv."

"Okay, well, here, you get the food bars and water purification tablets. I have to get the truck serviced and lubed. I don't want to lose my four wheel drive half way up the side of a mountain."

"What time do you want to meet back here?"

"I should have everything by eleven; so we can meet back just before lunch. You can help me pack the truck and after lunch, well..."

"Yeah, I know."

They kissed and drove out to get everything. Casey managed to get a new set of u-joints put on the truck at cost by flirting with the service guy. She didn't like doing it, but her checking account was going fast with all this camping equipment. She had to get a new tent and that hurt, good high-country rated tents weren't cheap.

Neither was the forty gallons of spare fuel in the jerry cans, she needed it; after all, they don't have gas stations at ten thousand feet. She got the magnesium fire starting strips and picked up a half dozen fireplace logs, just in case the wood was wet and needed help getting it going.

They met back at her house just after eleven and they brought most of the stuff inside. Casey packed her largest backpack with cold weather clothing. Lena questioned Casey about this since it was over 70 degrees today.

"It's obvious you've never been up in the high mountains camping. It's warm during the day, but at night the temperature drops to freezing or below. I might end up above the tree line or even the snow line, I just don't know, so I have to prepare as if that's where I'm going."

"Oh, okay. What are those brown packets you put in the side pockets?"

"Those are some MRE's I got off the Internet."

"MRE's?"

"Yeah, Meals Ready to Eat. They have their own heat source and even if they taste like crap, they have tons of calories and carb's for energy when you need it."

"I can think of one MRE that tastes great and has no calories."

"God! Don't you ever get enough?"

"Nope. Not when it comes to you I don't."

Lena caressed Casey's butt and kissed her cheek.

They ate a light lunch and then they packed the truck with all the gear and food. The last thing to go in was the duffle bag that Mark had given her. Casey put it in the cab with her. As she closed the passenger door, Lena was standing there with her hands in her pockets and she had tears in her eyes. This got Casey to crying and they hugged. Lena squeezed her tightly and kissed her cheek.

"Just come back, my Casey. I will take you however you are, just come back to me."

"I will, my lovely little Lena, I will come home to you no matter what happens. I promise."

Casey got into her truck and drove off, looking back in her mirror, she saw Lena wave and wipe the tears from her face.

Two hours later she was slowly approaching the Ranger cabin where it had all started. She stopped at the end of the fire trail and shut off the truck. She pulled the duffel bag up onto the seat and opened it. She pulled out the vest first, and even being in an awkward situation, she put it on inside the truck. She wasn't taking any chances. She pulled out the pistol and double-checked it, slipped it into the holster and since she couldn't put it on inside the truck she opened the door and carefully got out.

She looked around again and listened. She didn't hear anything that she shouldn't so she put on the gun belt and cinched the holster to her thigh. She checked to make sure it was sitting just right for her hand and satisfied she locked the truck and started for the cabin.

When she got closer, she started to get a little paranoid, so she pulled the pistol out and attached the silencer. She liked the way the gun felt with that extra weight on the front. The balance was front heavy, so she knew that it wouldn't jump up as much and she could keep it on target better this way. She checked the wind direction, from her left.

Well, it's not perfect, but at least it's not at my back and carrying my scent to who ever might be up there. She listened for any change in the surrounding birds and insects, everything sounded normal. She watched ahead for places to put her feet so that she didn't step on any sticks or scuff against the rocks.

She reached the cabin and still there were no sounds. She walked all the way around the cabin first, checking to see if anyone was hiding, but she didn't see any traces of tracks or recent activity. She came around to the front again and slowly walked up the steps, both hands on the gun, holding it with the barrel down, arms slightly bent; ready to bring it up if needed. She got to the door and saw that it was slightly ajar.

She stood off to the side and pushed it open with her boot. The door hinges creaked but that was the only sound, there wasn't any movement from inside. She peeked around the door jam and looked inside. She was shocked at the sight.

Someone had been here since she and Dagomarus had left. Somebody that had been angry or very messy, the inside was in shambles. The table was broken and upside down against the far wall. None of the chairs were intact, and the cot had been ripped apart. She carefully looked around the inside, there were no hiding places left.

She checked around outside again, but couldn't see or hear anything, so she stepped back inside to look around. She stepped around the chair legs and debris of the cot, she stood in the center and slowly turned a full circle; taking in the destruction of the cabin. She squatted down and picked up one of the table legs and looked it over. There were no teeth marks on it. So, who ever did this had used hands, it wasn't Dagomarus. That left only one person who she knew had this much anger and walked on two legs, Scott. Shit.

She looked around again to make sure nobody was trying to sneak up on her. Still nothing. She took a closer look at the damage to see if she could tell how long it had been since it happened. There wasn't really anything unique about it that could tell her something specific. Raccoons hadn't come in to take advantage of the shredded blanket, so probably not too long. She could smell things now, traces of herself and Dagomarus.

She concentrated on those smells, trying to tell if the scent of Dagomarus was stronger than others. There was a newer scent, but it wafted in from outside. She took one more look around the cabin and deciding that there wasn't anything useful; she walked back outside.

She followed the scent for a few yards and found the source. A large pine tree had a slightly darker stain on the base of the trunk. She looked around her again, but nothing changed in the sounds, and so she knelt down and sniffed the stain. Yes, it was Dagomarus's scent, and it was newer than the ones inside the cabin. So, he had been here since we left that night. She felt something click inside her head and she knew this was a territorial marking.

Something else came over her; she had the sudden urge to pee. Without really thinking about it, she loosened the holster and her pants and she squatted over that spot and squirted two pulses of urine over his mark. Then the urge was over and she was just squatting next to the tree. She shook her head at what she had just done and pushed aside the strange feelings. She pulled her pants back up and reattached the holster to her thigh.

She looked around and sniffed the air, trying to pick up another marking scent. Nothing. She tried to think about how she had felt when she pissed on the tree. The strong urge to mark the tree with her scent had been overwhelming. It wasn't a conscious decision; it was deeper than that; instinctual.

She looked uphill, towards the peak of the mountain she was on, and slowly headed for the top. She figured it would take about an hour to climb and there was still plenty of daylight left to get up there and then back to her truck.

She took a while to get to the top, instead of going straight; she widened her search, trying to determine if there were any more trees with his markings on it. She approached the top cautiously, not knowing if anyone might be on the other side of the ring. There were still trees on top of this peak, so there could be someone hiding up there.

She couldn't see any signs of recent activity, but that didn't mean anything. She was far from being an expert at tracking anything that didn't leave obvious marks in the dirt. The wind was much more noticeable at this altitude. She sniffed the breeze and listened for anything out of place. With the increased wind it was hard to tell if the extra movement of the trees was hiding someone.

After several minutes of watching she didn't see anything move that caught her eye as out of place. She finished walking up to the top; she stayed away from the trees and larger rocks, just in case someone was hiding behind them. She walked the perimeter of the top, sniffing the air for any sign of Dagomarus's scent. Nothing.

Damn! I had hoped this would at least give me a better starting point. She fished out a small pair of binoculars and scanned the surrounding area. They were fairly high end ones, with a zoom feature. She had them on the lowest setting so that the field of view was the widest.

She was about to give up when she caught something in the view. She slowly scanned the area to see if she could tell what it was. There seemed to be a discoloration next to a large boulder on the opposite mountainside. She put the pistol in her belt; the silencer was still attached. Using both hands now, she adjusted the zoom on the binoculars. There! Was that movement?

Something slammed into her chest, knocking her onto her back. She lay there, looking up into the sky trying to breathe. She heard the sound, like rolling thunder. She knew what had happened. The pain in her chest was immense but there wasn't any wetness. Mark had saved her life. She tried to breathe; finally her chest spasmed, released, and she coughed and sucked in a chest full of air. She moaned and slowly slid her hand underneath the vest. OUCH! Yep, that's gonna to leave a mark.

She felt a pressure wave pass her face and there was a loud cracking noise next to her ear. BOOOOM! The shot echoed across the canyon. SHIT! That asshole is still shooting at me! She slid on her back to the nearest tree and put it between her and the shooter. She sat there trying to think of how do get out of this mess.

The ground exploded next to her thigh and the whistling whine of the tumbling bullet zinged off into the distance. BOOOOM! Another rumble of rifle thunder echoed in the canyon. Okay, Casey, THINK! The time between the impacts of the bullet and the sound of the rifle is about four seconds. That means he's about three quarters of a mile away. However, the canyon separated them, so there was some time to put more distance between them.

She looked at the path she had taken up to this point. There was cover to hide behind, but there was also lots of open space. She gathered her feet under her and slowly stood up. She unthreaded the silencer from the barrel and holstered the pistol. There was no reason for her to waste ammunition shooting back at him; the short, fat bullets of the pistol would barely make it across the canyon.

Securing everything, she picked her spot that she could hide behind next. She launched herself away from the tree and ran as fast as she could. The feeling of someone cracking a whip next to her head made her duck, but she made it to the boulder and dove over it. She rolled twice and stayed low, hugging the ground. BOOOM! The rifle report echoed again. She spun around and looked for her next hiding place. There, that twisted tree. After that, I should be able to crawl out of his line of fire.

She squatted, gathering herself for the next surge; she sprang for the tree. She was almost there when a hammer hit her right between the shoulder blades and she went sprawling onto her face and stomach. BOOOOM! The adrenaline kept her going, and she scrambled for the base of the tree. She made it around the trunk when a gouge of wood exploded right where her head had just been. The whine of the ricocheting bullet sang through the air. BOOOOM! She stayed on her stomach and making sure that the tree stayed between her and the rifle, she crawled down off the top of the mountain.

Once she was sure that no more speeding chunks of copper and lead could find her, she got up and ran as fast as she could down the mountain. She pushed off trees and large rocks as she careened down the side of the steep grade. It didn't take her long before she was back at the cabin, she passed it and kept going until she was at her truck. She jumped in and started it, backed up and drove as fast as she could down the rough fire access road.

Twenty minutes later she was at the junction point and she stopped, looking around, she couldn't see any other vehicles. Looking at the road, her tire tracks from earlier were the only ones that showed fresh on the dirt road. She put the truck into neutral and set the parking brake. She got out her map of the area and looked for the marking of the cabin. It really wasn't marked officially; she had put it on her map.

She looked at her options; nothing really presented itself. She had hoped that she would have found something at the cabin to point her in the right direction. Now all she knew was where NOT to go. She looked down at her chest and found the base of a bullet sticking out of the vest. She pulled it out and looked at it, a copper mushroom with a dark gray interior. It wasn't very big but it sure had hurt when it hit her. She shook her head and mentally thanked Mark again for saving her ass. She tossed the bullet into the ashtray, for some reason she wanted to keep it. Looking at the map again, she tried to think of what to do next.

She got out of the truck, leaving it idling just in case she needed to move quickly. She spread the map out over the hood of the truck and orienting it correctly, she got out her compass. She looked at the map and then flipped up the lid, and positioning the dial correctly, she shot an azimuth bearing to the north. Then sighting along the wire in the slot of the lid she rotated until it lined up with the peak of the mountain to her right.

Looking at the degree scale she made a note on the map and then did it again on another mountain. She made another mark on the map. Okay, so I am on this spot. She hadn't marked all the roads and trails on her copy of a USGS topographical map yet. She knew a GPS unit would be easier but her father had taught her how to use a compass and a map when she was little and her compass didn't need batteries.

She traced her finger along a ridgeline marking on the map and then looked up to see it on the mountain to her right. Okay, it looks like this fire road runs along that ridgeline. That puts me going NNW for a couple miles then it hooks West for another three or four miles. If I use that road, that puts several miles of trees and valley between that rifle and me. It was as good a place to go as any. She folded the map and stuffed the compass back into her pocket and got back in the truck. She put it into gear and headed up the fire road.

It was slow going up the fire road. They were barely roads; just paths cut through the trees for the Park Rangers and fire crews to get in on. If she hadn't put tall tires on oversized rims with a four-wheel drive truck, there'd be no way to go over these trails. After traveling around the hook on the ridgeline she stopped and marked it on the map.

Continuing for another four miles she crossed a creek, luckily it was shallow enough for the truck to cross. She started gaining altitude after the creek and she made a few more marks on her map. When she came around a bend and looked out over a long valley she stopped. She got out and redid her azimuth bearings and made a couple more notes.

While looking at the map and checking it against what she saw in front of her, the light breeze brought her a scent. She knew it for what it was, Dagomarus. She reached in and shut off the truck. She listened for any noises that might give her a clue that he was around. Nothing but a few birds. She sniffed the air again, and it was still there, a faint musk that said TERRITORY in her mind.

She slowly walked around the truck and tried to locate the source. The wind was coming up out of the valley in front of her. I guess I know where I'm headed next. She looked at the sky and then her watch; she was going to have to make a decision soon. Either keep driving after dark or find a place to make camp. If she kept driving after dark, her headlights would give away her position, and she knew that Scott wouldn't stop looking for her now that he knew she was out here. Common sense said GO HOME, but she had to find Dagomarus before she went all fangs and fur and did something bad.

She decided to keep driving until she needed lights. If there wasn't any place to put up a tent by then, she'd sleep in the front seat of the truck. It sucked because the seats weren't stuffed with that position in mind, so getting any real rest was pathetic at best. Starting the truck and putting it in gear, she headed down into the valley. She managed to cover another twelve miles, stopping and checking the breeze every mile mark on the odometer. The scent became stronger as she traveled along the upper ridge of the valley. When it was too dark to go on safely without lights, she found a spot where she could get off the fire trail and parked.

She got out and listened, but there was nothing but the breeze through the pines. She sniffed the air again and found that the scent was rather strong. She pulled out a flashlight and flipped its red lens down in place. She also pulled out the pistol and threaded the silencer onto it. She clicked on the flashlight and started walking slowly towards the scent. She carefully walked about a hundred yards when she found the tree he had marked. It was a huge pine, easily four feet across at the base. She looked around on the ground but there were no tracks, the thick layer of pine needles prevented it. She walked around the tree first, looking outwards. There was nothing that registered as a clue, just more trees and rocks.

She squatted next to the stain on the tree and the smell was very strong in her nostrils, much stronger than the mark at the cabin. That strange urge hit her again and she found herself pulling her pants down and squirting urine over his mark. She stood up and refastened her pants, thinking to herself; damn that was weird. She could smell her own scent now, covering his. It wasn't the same as the scent from her sex, close, but there was something else in it as well. She sniffed it and that click in her head snapped again, this time the message was CHALLENGE. Well, she thought, I guess I am challenging him and his claim on this territory. Hopefully he'll get the message.

She walked back to her truck and looked around with the red light of the flashlight. She found a small flat area that didn't have too many rocks. She unthreaded the silencer and holstered the gun. She reached under the seat of the truck and got out her camping shovel. She flipped down the pick arm and locked it in place. She went over to the area she had picked out and chipped out the larger stones. She cleared a space on the ground for her tent. She pulled out the pack and set up the tent. It was rough going, this was a new tent and she wasn't completely familiar with its little quirks in assembly, and the instructions were in Chinese. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to print the instructions in Chinese? Fucking morons.

She finally got it all together and staked out. She was still pissed about the instructions. She rolled out the self-inflating mat and unrolled her sleeping bag. She really wanted to light a fire, but knew that it would be nothing more than a giant neon sign saying, 'HERE I AM! SHOOT ME!' She took a long pull from her canteen and rummaged through the MRE's until she found something appealing.

She smiled at the thought of what Lena had said about the acronym. That also brought a tear to her eye as she poured a little water into the heating pouch and shook it gently. She had picked the Beef & Noodles, which was okay, but the salt content made her thirsty. When it was done heating, she plopped down against a tree and ate it in silence, listening to the wind through the pines.

She hoped she was doing the right thing. She hated to leave Lena back in town, but after the incident earlier with Scott, she was glad that she had. What rotten luck to have that bastard find her on top of that hill right in his sights. She tried to figure out why he had been over there. Well, he is on the run from the law. He tore up the cabin. Maybe he had been hiking deeper into the woods when he had accidentally spotted her being stupid and standing up like a silhouette target at the gun range. She hoped that was it. She scolded herself for being that stupid. She had been thinking ten feet in front of her, not across the canyon ahead of her. Well, I learned my lesson on that today.

She hoped that he would continue deeper into the woods, but she knew he wouldn't. Not now he wouldn't. She had to worry about him tracking her down out here in the deep forest, far from any help. She kicked herself for not springing for the satellite phone, but the cost versus what she thought she needed had been too far apart. She did have that handheld 23-channel CB radio, it had started off as a 4-watt transmitter, but a friend of a friend had boosted it to 12 watts for her. The only trouble with it was she would have to be on top of a mountain to effectively use it; and due to the increased wattage, it sucked up the batteries fast.

She finished her meal and put the trash in her new container. She had picked it up from one of the ranchers in town that sold them locally. It was a simple 5-gallon bucket with a screw on lid and it had a mixture of crushed charcoal and baking soda in the bottom and in a pouch glued to the lid. No smell from your trash, no hungry bears tearing your campsite apart at 3 am. She took one last look around and then crawled into her tent. She peeled the vest off with a sigh. That vest wasn't the most comfortable thing to wear for extended periods, but it had saved her body from two high velocity bullets, so she wasn't going to complain about the comfort level too much.

Her back and chest hurt from the impacts. She couldn't find the slug from the back of the vest; it was probably down inside the seat of the truck. She lifted her shirt up and using the flashlight, looked at the damage. There was an irregular bruise just below her left breast, if she hadn't been wearing the vest, it would have been fatal. She took off the gun belt and holster. She removed the pistol, screwed the silencer onto it and set it next to her pillow. She put the flashlight right next to it. She crawled into her bag and went to sleep.

She dreamed of gunshots and blood. There were growling monsters and torn bodies. She heard a voice calling her name. She knew that voice. That deep bass of Dagomarus was saying her name. She felt sick to her stomach and her skin itched. There that voice was again. She sat up, sweating and breathing fast. Her stomach still felt queasy and she itched everywhere.

"Casey."

There it was, that deep bass, and it wasn't in her dreams. It was in her ears. WHAT? She reached for the pistol and the flashlight. She slid out of her sleeping bag and crouched.

"Casey. I am here. You called me."

Now she was really frightened. That was his voice all right, but it wasn't in her head anymore. It was outside her tent. Her hands were shaking and she tried to control them. She used the end of the flashlight to force the zipper up on the tent flap, holding the pistol back slightly. She peeked out the flap and saw a human form in the darkness. It was standing next to her truck. She stepped out of the tent and stood up straight, holding the flashlight and handgun out in front of her, pointing at that form. She flicked the switch on the laser sight and aimed it at the center of that form. She flicked the switch on the flashlight next and she cursed.

There in the red light of her flashlight was a man, a naked man. He was muscular and had a lot of scars, but that face, it was the one he had shown her in her mind. That piercing gaze was the same, though.

"Hello, Casey. I am so sorry, Casey. I can feel it. You can't imagine how deep my sorrow and guilt for this goes. I never meant this to happen."

"How? How did you change back?"

She could see the sad smile on his face and the tears starting in his eyes.

"I woke up like this the day after I left. I've been trying to get up the courage to go back to you, but here you are. I felt you enter this valley. I smelled the scent that you covered mine with. I smelled the challenge in it."

"Yeah, well, I guess I am challenging you. You need to fix this."

She still held the pistol pointed at his chest.

"Oh, Casey, I wish I could. The change is permanent. Don't you think that in my two thousand years of roaming this earth that I haven't tried to do the very same thing?"

"I had a feeling you were going to say that, but I had to ask. The next thing I need to ask, then, can you teach me to control it?"

"I will do what I can for you, it's the least I can do to alleviate what I have cursed you with."

"Okay. There is something else, Dagomarus. We can never return to what we had."

"I know, Casey. I can smell her on you. Do you truly love her now?"

"Yes, Dagomarus, I do."

"Then enjoy every day with her as if it will be your last, because one day, it will be. I cannot prepare you for that day, but I can at least tell you what to expect. She will drive you away. She will demand that you leave because she can't stand it that you have not aged a day and she has aged years. I am so sorry, Casey. I have had it happen to me so many times, and I can still see their faces, and I can hear the resentment that so quickly turned to hatred."

"Well, thanks for that, Dagomarus, that makes it all seem so fucking cheerful. What other torments do I have to look forward to? Huh? YOU FUCKING BASTARD!! YOU DID THIS TO ME!! YOU FUCKED ME THREE WAYS FROM SUNDAY AND YOU LEFT ME WITH THIS!"

She dropped to her knees, the flashlight and gun forgotten, and she sobbed. The enormity of her situation slammed into her; the cold, dreadful words of Dagomarus telling her that the woman she loved would come to hate her and drive her away. That there was no way to fix this curse. What had she ever done to deserve this?

Dagomarus stood there and watched her sob, knowing that if he touched her, her anger towards him might set off the change early. He waited for her to calm down. Her sobs eventually tapered off and she remained kneeling, looking down at the ground. She wiped the tears from her face and she looked up at him.

"So, now we understand one another, you're sorry and I hate your guts. Now what? What else do I need to know about this, this, condition of mine? I remember some of what you showed me, but will it be different for me?"

"I have no answers on that, Casey. I know it doesn't help you feel any better, but you are the first person I've inflicted with this curse in two thousand years. I have no idea what you can expect. I can tell you that I feel pressured to move away from you or challenge you back. It's part of this 'condition', as you call it. It is easier, however, to deal with because it's you. I don't know if it's because I am the one who passed it on or if it's because of our prior relationship. I will try to teach you what those monks taught me. To control your mind and the new powers that you have."

"Okay, so this queasy stomach and the itching I have is the thing that is telling me to leave or challenge you?"

"No, that's the change coming on, and if you are feeling that right now, you are close. The full moon is still a few days away, and you are already fighting off the urge to shift. That's not a good sign, Casey. When did these feelings start?"

"Well, the other day when I was really angry with someone was the first time, but I was able to fight it off with the help of my friend. I felt it again while I was dreaming just a few minutes ago, just before I woke up and heard you out here calling my name."

"Yes, anger will cause you to shift if you can't calm down soon enough. What were you dreaming of?"