Chapter 184: 144. Seeing Things

The spell Brooke came up with last year allowed the caster to sort of see back in time, but the further back you went the harder it was. And trying to cover a larger area was exponentially harder than focusing on a smaller space. The last challenge was how much you wanted to see, like if you were only interested in a single 'snapshot' that was way easier than keeping it running for a half hour while you observed a bunch of actions playing out.

I wasn't looking back much further in time than she did, we were both working with about a three-day delay. But I had to cover a larger area, and depending what I saw I might have to keep the spell running a while before I got any useful information from it.

On the other hand, Brooke was just a normal human witch. I had a lot more power available than her, so I wasn't too concerned about taxing myself. I was more worried about messing up and flubbing the spell, or making some other mistake and not finding any useful information at all.

So I kept my eyes closed at first while I focused on getting the spell perfect. It didn't help that I was out of practice with that kind of magic. I hadn't used the Word, Will, and Way in over a year, not since before ending up in hospital.

At one point my anxiety started to build as I got more worried about messing things up, but I wasn't surprised when I felt some calm confidence settle into place to stifle the nerves and stress. My other self didn't take over, but I was positive it was her way of letting me know she was there to help. Or maybe she'd take over if I did screw something up. For now I was still me and she was just sort of invisibly holding my hand and giving me a bit of moral support.

Finally the spell kicked in, and I opened my eyes.

For a moment there was like a double-vision thing going on. I could see the real scene before me, I was aware of my friends standing around to either side, along with the tall athletic wolfgirl Lindsay. But I could also see the scene as it was three days earlier, on Thursday afternoon.

There was a gentle but constant breeze blowing, which meant a constant background rustling noise from the trees as the wind moved through the leaves and stuff. The bigger difference was the man I saw hunched down next to that big tree, half-hidden behind some bushes. His right knee was on the ground, left shoulder leaning against the trunk of the tree, and a big weird-looking gun raised up and ready to shoot.

I kept my attention on him as I started walking around to get a better look at the guy, and as I did that I started telling the others what I could see.

"It's a man," I said in a soft voice. "He looks to be in his thirties maybe? Hard to tell how tall he is right now, he's on one knee right here, leaning against the tree and aiming a big gun out towards the field. He's wearing dark pants and hiking boots. His jacket is a sort of green and brown camo pattern? And he's got a wide-brimmed camo-pattern hat on, with the brim on the right side folded up? I guess so it doesn't bump against the gun when he aims?"

The gun was strange enough that I had to describe it too, "His rifle looks like some kind of antique? It's got a big clicky hammer on the side, and the barrel looks thick and heavy. It's not even round, it's like eight-sided? And there's a long wood stick underneath it. Like a ram-rod thing maybe? There's two triggers, but only one barrel. And there's engraving, like decorations and stuff on the metal. The stock is some fancy-looking wood. And -"

I suddenly flinched as I saw him pull one of the triggers, but apart from a faint click nothing happened. Then he put his finger on the other trigger, and a second later he pulled it. The hammer snapped forward and made a loud 'crack' sound, and a split second later there was a very loud bang and a huge cloud of white smoke came out of the front of the gun

After a deep breath to settle my nerves I quickly relayed all that to the others.

Then I continued, "The smoke blew away pretty fast in the breeze, and now he looks angry. I think he just figured out he didn't kill her? He's reaching for a brown leather pouch thing by his right hip, it actually looks kind of like a purse or something? Oh, he's changed his mind about the purse. He stood up and turned around. He's slung the rifle over his shoulder and yeah, he just went out of range of the spell. He left in that direction."

I pointed the way the guy left, then ended the spell. Finally I added, "Oh um, he's probably about six feet tall? He looked like he was in good physical fitness, kind of slim and a bit muscular maybe? Hard to say under the jacket and stuff. He has short dark or black hair, and he had a neatly-trimmed black beard and moustache. Fair skin, and blue eyes."

Everyone was quiet for the next couple seconds, a few of them had thoughtful looks on their faces. Kaylee was smiling at me though, she looked proud of me for getting all that information.

Finally Lindsay spoke up, "Damn girl, that's a pretty amazing spell. I hope you don't mind repeating everything you just told us once we get back up to the house? I know mom and Jaden are going to want to hear that."

"Do you think any of that's going to be helpful?" Melanie asked.

I grimaced, "If I was any good at drawing I'd make a sketch of the guy. He didn't really have anything memorable about him though? Like I doubt my description is going to be too helpful."

The tall blonde wolfgirl shrugged, "We'll see. The description of his gun might be more important? Sounds like an old muzzle-loader, and that's probably a lot more rare than a tall guy with short dark hair. It never even occurred to us he might be using something like that, but that'd explain a few details we noticed the other day."

"That seems weird, doesn't it?" Willow asked. "It sounds like the guy was decked out in modern camo hunting gear and stuff, so why would he be using some antique gun? Especially if it's rare and maybe traceable?"

Lindsay shrugged, "No idea. My mom might know though? Anyways is that all you girls wanted to see out here?"

I looked to Cerys and Melanie, since they were in charge.

Our club leader nodded, "I think that was it? Unless there's anything else we can find here. Cass, do you have any other tricks we can use to track this guy now that you've seen his face? Or anyone else have any suggestions?"

"Not really," I replied as I shook my head. "Sorry."

Then Kaylee reminded us, "We're still hoping to get a look at the bullet? Cass might be able to use that as a scrying focus, to get more information about the hunter."

"All right," Lindsay nodded. "Let's head back to the house then."

We all retraced our path back out of the woods, then over the fence, and finally we set off back up the grassy lane towards the barn and the farmhouse. Nobody talked about what I'd seen or about the attack or anything, but as we passed by the cattle again my girlfriend came up with another question.

"So you raise cattle here?" she asked. "I'm guessing they're beef, not dairy?"

Lindsay nodded, "Yeah. Grass fed certified organic beef. We're friends with a small private abattoir that does the butchering for us, and they have their own retail storefront too. Provides meat for our pack, and they sell to other weres and a few other supernaturals who like high quality beef. They even have some human customers too."

My girlfriend looked at Cerys and asked, "Is that the place your uncle works? You said he works at an abattoir right?"

The blonde wolfgirl frowned, "I have no idea? If it is, I doubt he'd be giving us cheap or free burgers and sausages though. Or at least, not stuff that came from expensive organic cows."

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"I don't remember ever smelling werewolf scent on the guy," Melanie pointed out. "But I've only met him a couple times, so who knows?"

By that point we were making our way past the barn. Willow pointed towards where we'd parked and commented, "I hope that's not more trouble."

Another vehicle had arrived while we were all out at the back of the fields, there was a police SUV parked next to the Lunamobile.

"Shouldn't be a problem," Lindsay replied as she let us through the last gate and out of the barnyard. "That's probably Ryan's car, which means we might have some news."

She didn't bother to explain who Ryan was, but I figured we'd find out soon enough. Or maybe not, if it was some sort of pack secret or something. Either way the tall blonde werewolf led the rest of us across the grass towards the house, then she opened up the door and motioned us all back inside. There'd been a conversation in progress, but that stopped as soon as the door opened.

Inside we found two new people, in addition to Belinda and Jaden. Sitting on the sofa next to the matriarch was another wolfgirl, and the family resemblance between her and Jayden made it obvious she was another sister. She looked about twenty years old, with short dark hair, dark eyes, and the same tanned complexion as Jaden and Lindsay. Her black fuzzy ears and black furry tail were both out, and she was dressed in black ankle boots, dark grey leggings, and a long loose black top. She also had a black purse over her shoulder, and the only splash of colour on her was a trans-pride pin on the side of her purse.

The other new arrival was standing near the bay windows and the chair where Jayden was sitting. He was another tall strong-looking guy, with broad shoulders and sturdy legs. His curled sandy-blond hair was cut short, he had fair skin, hazel eyes, and some stubble on his face. He was also dressed in a police uniform, complete with pistol and taser and stuff like that on his belt.

Seeing the weapons had me on edge, but I tried not to look too anxious or anything.

"Anything to report?" Belinda asked as she looked at Lindsay.

The tall blonde wolfgirl nodded, "Yeah, the girls were as good as their word. Do you want to hear that first, or do you want to do some more introductions?"

The matriarch nodded and gestured to the ravenette wolfgirl next to her, "This is my youngest daughter Mallory, home from school for the summer."

"Melanie, I don't think you've met Mallory before?" she added as she looked back and forth between the two ravenette wolfgirls.

Mallory was the first to respond to that. She smiled at Melanie, "We haven't met but I've heard a few good things about you."

"Well you can talk more with her later," Belinda stated. Then she gestured to the cop, "The officer is Ryan Horvat, he's another member of my pack."

Then the older wolf-woman told Mallory and Ryan who we all were, and why we were there. She finished up by asking, "So Lindsay says you found something? Let's hear it."

Once again everyone looked to me, and I had to force myself not to cringe or grimace. I may have blushed a little bit though. I pushed past it and after a deep breath I began to repeat everything I could remember, all the stuff I saw from the scrying spell. Belinda, Jaden, Mallory, and Ryan all listened carefully to pretty much every word.

Kaylee and Cerys both spoke up once or twice, chiming in with details I'd already forgotten or overlooked. Then when I finally finished the other wolfs were all quiet for a few more seconds as they processed everything.

"That's probably why there was no follow-up shot?" Lindsay finally suggested as she looked to her mother and siblings. "If he was using an old muzzle-loader, he might have known he didn't have time to reload."

Jaden frowned, "If he's had enough training and experience he could probably reload it in less than thirty seconds. Less than fifteen seconds if he had pre-loaded paper cartridges. And from what the girl said, he was reaching for a pouch? He probably had his powder and ammunition in there."

"Knowing he's using a muzzle-loader answers most of the questions we had about the bullet too," Ryan stated. "I'm not sure that's going to be much help in terms of tracking him down? Especially if it's a genuine antique, odds are it won't be in any of our databases."

Kaylee spoke up again at that point, "About the bullet, do you want Cass to try and scry with it? She might be able to get you some more information on the hunter."

The wolfs looked at each other, then Belinda nodded.

Ryan pulled a little zip-lock baggie out of his jacket pocket and handed it to me as he said, "Here you go kid. Maybe you'll have better luck with this than the rest of us. If you could get us a name or some other identifying information that would be good."

"I'll do my best," I replied as I took the small plastic bag from him.

Inside was the actual silver bullet. It wasn't shiny or smooth, the surface was sort of dull and matte. It was mostly round, but slightly deformed like a gum-ball that had been lightly stepped on. It was about that size too, around a half-inch across. There was some weight to it though, it was definitely a lot heavier than a gum-ball would be.

I carefully opened up the baggie and tipped out the silver ball into my hand, then held it tightly as I closed my eyes and started to cast another scrying spell. This time I was using demonic magic, and it was a lot more open-ended. I was looking for any strong emotional connections, to see who else had been in contact with it. I hoped that would help me find the man who used it, or maybe tell me where it came from.

As images started to appear in my mind I relayed what I was seeing to the others. "I'm getting mountains, woods, and a cabin. I think this is out west somewhere? Somewhere in British Columbia, up in the mountains. There's an old light-blue pick-up truck out front. I'm seeing bundles of herbs and things hanging in the windows of the cabin. And some runes marked around the doorway?"

"Now I see a woman," I added. "We're inside the cabin, in what looks like her kitchen. More herbs and things around. The woman looks to be in her late twenties maybe? Or early thirties? Long black hair, fair skin, blue eyes. I'm not sure what she's doing? There's some kind of electric thing, and there's... Oh ok now I get it."

I grimaced, "She's actually making the silver bullets. She has a little thing that has melted silver in it, she poured it into a metal mold. Then after it set she opened it up and got five silver balls out of it."

The scene shifted again and I stated, "The hunter guy is there now too. The woman's giving him a little box with the silver bullets in it. She's talking to him, telling him to be careful. I think these two are brother and sister? He just said thank you and called her Mary. And..."

I opened my eyes and looked at the werewolfs as I told them, "Your wolf hunter's name is Samuel."