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The moon aborning. Calved from earth billions of years ago, she waxes and wanes and with her waxes and wanes the power of evil over the lives of humanity. On this day a sacred person stood on a hilltop with medicine bundle in hands, praying for her son.
Moon is witness. Earth is jury. Sun:Wolf is judge.
Hey:O hey:wa hey. Hey:O hey ya hey. Listen to the Wolf.
Justice is when evil is devoured, and Wolf is a hungry God.
"Take a sit, kid." The blond man's cold eyes belied the gentle smile. Eyes that said Ainsworthy was murderer. A pro at the macabre art of death. He would kill and maim and find pleasure in every aspect of it.
"Mrs. VanTur wants to talk to you, Benny." A sly grin drew across the angular features.
"She says that you've been naughty, not nice. What's she going to do, Greylov, paddle you?"
"My name ain't Greylov."
Ignoring Benny's words, his partner gusted a coarse laugh. The plump Smith grinned.
"Hell, I'd let her. You ever meet the woman?" Dark with admiration for the sheer perfection of Cindy's body, his eyes rolled in his face. "Total and unblemished. Unlike some." Chuckling, Smith gestured at the elderly couple. "What about these two?"
"Boss says no witnesses. Might sour his popularity." The lean man looked dour. "So? Do them."
"Yeah. No problem, man. But here?" Smith gestured at the walls covered with pictures of Africa's Jesus and the Long's innumerable children and grandchildren. "You want some little kid to see them? Come on," he said in a cajoling voice. "You have kids, Mike. Think they'd like to see Grammy laying on the rugs . . . You know?" He winked at Mandy. "Easy to see you folks don't believe in birth control." He cackled a laugh at his joke. In the age of AIDs, in the years following a plague of diseases that sterilized both men and women, birth control was outlawed. The world's population still crumbled at minus ten percent per generation.
Mandy stared proudly at the plump agent. His laughter choked off.
"I am one of the People. On my mother's side. We love kids, mister."
He smiled and nodded. Everybody loved kids. There was so dammed few of them around these days, only the servant class were aborted. The shorter man crushed any hope Benny had of the Long's being freed.
"Out in the woods maybe. You know? Wild dogs would make it a little harder to prove anything."
"Who the hell cares?" Ainsworthy made a scornful gesture. "You think some yokel is going to get anything on a body and trace us? Grow up, Josh." He spat on the carpet. "We're gods to the uniforms."
"I care, dammit. I have kids, too. I just don't like the thought-"
"Shut it. All right." He scowled at Smith. "Just shut the hell up, all ready. Go do it where ever the fuck you want."
Smith glared at his partner and gestured at the Longs with his gun. Forcing a smile, he said in a mocking joke, "If you would, please, gentle-beings."
Henry clenched his teeth shut and held onto his Mandy as hard as he dared without hurting her.
"I love you, Baby," he said, his eyes filled with pain.
"Come on, move it, will you? I don't have all day."
"Screw you, faggot."
"Shut it, kid, or I'll shut you up." Smith gave Benny a paternal, friendly look.
"Go play on the Sparky Express, you friggin coward."
Smith swelled with rage. The lean man just smiled at his partner and Benny.
"Cool it, Greylov." An expansive, tolerant look came on Ainsworthy's face.
"Why do you have to murder these folks? They're good people, man."
Ainsworthy shrugged. "It isn't murder, Benny. We're doing what we have to, to keep the world safe-"
"By murdering old folks?"
"Tina Johanson and I have the same orders." Ainsworthy assumed a patient smile. "She's done this sort of thing enough times."
Launching himself from the chair Benny screamed, "You fucking liar."
'No, Benny-'
The lean man spun. Benny's head exploded in pain.
"Stupid, kid."
Ainsworthy crouched over Benny. "Get a wet rag, old woman. Help him."
Eyes hard, Smith was no longer a fat clown, but as all business as shards of glass.
"Go with her, Josh. I grew up on a farm, man, and you have no idea how easy it is to lose yourself."
Smith snorted. "She won't leave the old man." Josh slapped back the swinging kitchen door.
"You old bitch," Smith shouted. There was a rattle and a crash. Mandy's cry of pain echoed through the small house. Henry leaped to his feet. The lean man turned on him with a savage growl.
"Sit."
Mike backed away from Henry and Benny. He opened the door with one hand, his eyes on the two men.
"The old bitch pulled a knife on me."
Smith scowled down at Mandy. Snapping curses he jerked her roughly from the floor. He shoved her at the sink and opened the door of the ancient refrigerator that graced the kitchen. A platter of cold fried chicken caught his eye.
"Hey," he cried, delight spreading across the untanned, pudgy face. "You hungry, Mike?" He grabbed a handful of the cold chicken and took a clean dish towel. Most went into the towel, and that into the pocket of his quilted jacket. One leg, too succulent to resist, was devoured. Narrowly missing Old-Woman Long's haggard face, the bone clattered into the sink.
"Will you lay off that shit?" Ainsworthy snapped his fingers. "You get any fatter, they discipline you for it. We came here to grab the kid, not go on a picnic."
"Yeah, but this stuff always makes me hungry."
Disgust lit Ainsworthy's lanky face. "Watching pigs screw makes you hungry, too." He glanced back to Henry, sympathy in his pale blue eyes. "Your wife is all right, Long."
Henry bowed his head in shame. His voice was rough, rusty with tears he could not allow to fall. For his Mandy's sake, he had to be strong.
"I used to be a man."
Smith laughed at him. Henry looked away from them and swallowed hard.
From the worn carpet, Benny groaned and tried to sit up.
"Move it, Josh. We don't have time for this." Ainsworthy's gaze shifted in rapid movement between the prisoners. He scowled and clenched his jaws. Rolling onto his back, Benny saw it, a fine sweat glisten on the man's gaunt face.
'He's growing dangerous, unpredictable. Today is a good day to die, Grandson Wolf. A good day to come live with us in the Forest beyond the Sun.'
Smith narrowed his eyes at his partner. He shoved the frail appearing Mandy passed her husband. A thin smear of blood outlined one corner of her mouth. Henry stood with fists clenched in rage.
"Just you lay still, Benny," she whispered, pressing him to the floor.
Mandy examined the knot on the back of his head. Thank the Lord it struck a glancing blow above the temple. Mandy pulled up his eyelid.
"The pupil of his eye looks normal," she told the men. "Had it been a direct hit, Benny would have a concussion or worse.
"This is going to sting a little. I hope." She pressed the cold rag with its chunk of ice onto his head. "No more foolishness, son, else I'll take a stick to you."
Phrases that shouldn't be said in front of an elder, let alone a Grandmother of the People, hissed from locked jaws.
At the embarrassed flush that darkened Benny face, Mandy chuckled.
"I've heard them all a thousand times. Comes from living with a man. Hewa?"
"Come on, old woman. Enough, already." Ainsworthy frowned at Mandy, eyes shifting from her to the window. The muzzle of the gun was rock steady.
Benny crawled to his feet. Henry clamped down on Benny's arm. Ever so slightly the old man shook his head. They exchanged looks. Henry shrugged.
"What cannot be changed, must be endured."
"It ain't right, Mr. Long."
Mandy gave Benny a tender smile and settled him on the couch. She pressed a finger to his lips.
"My man and me, we lived a good, long life, Benny Grey Wolf. Maybe it is time to move on back to the First World. Got a lot of kin there, waiting to see us." She closed her eyes. The ancient face took on a younger, dream-like cast. "Love endures the ages. Don't you ever forget that." She crossed her fingers of her right hand and blew on the tips, then held it aloft. "From the Mother-of-all,
Dohi:yi, Peace."
She leaned down to give him a blessings-kiss on the forehead. Her words came for his ears only, but Henry knew what she said.
"Die free, Wolf-Priest."
He wanted to shout in her face, 'I'm not a priest. I'm not even a man, lady. I'm not-' And the words refused to come. The Longs needed him to act like a man, now, a surrogate sacred-person. She smiled again and patted one of Benny's gaunt cheeks. Mandy gave him a sad, slow smile.
"Wolf-Warriors are coming, boys," she said, cool laughter for the agents in her voice. "Wolf-Warriors come to fight against people like you and bring the First World back to this world. You won't live to see it." She gave Ainsworthy and Smith each a piercing, secretive look. "You won't see sundown. Wolf-Warriors," she said, fierce and exultant and victorious. "Coming to make war on the unclean. Thank You, Lord Jesus, Lord of lords, Wolf of God. Alleluia, He has sent His
a:tsimahei to lead the Way.
"Ayo:tli. My child."
Henry squeezed her hand and smiled his deep pride in her.
Smith snorted at her pride. "African Queen, hah." He tightened his grip on her arm only to drop it as if burned. He blinked in shock from Henry to the lazy, supine Benny.
Both were growling.
"B- bastards-"
Filled with pride, Mandy said, "Wolf-Warriors, Mr. Smith. God's own fightin' fools."
Benny gave him a smile that was all teeth. "We like a little liver this time of day, fat-man. Hot and bloody and sweet,
ist?"
Henry added a short, cold laugh.
"I-"
Smith cast a helpless glance at Ainsworthy. Cold, greasy blobs of sweat rolled off the chunky face.
"For Christ's sake." Ainsworthy tightened his grip on his semi-automatic Rutger.
"No-body," Benny said in thick and angry heat, "messes with the old woman. She's family. She's sacred."
Smith blurted, "But she's an afro-"
Benny's words came low and hard.
"Since when's race got to do with family?"
Eyes wide, the spec agent glanced at his partner.
"Collar?"
With all the sweetness of his own grandmother, Mandy told Smith, "I'd kill you first. And, young man, I assure you, I would enjoy doing it."
A chicken bone thumped to the floor. The meat was ashes in his mouth. He tried to swallow it and it was a rock that choked him into silence.
Ainsworthy's lips thinned. This was insane. How could they be so dammed certain the kid wasn't going with them? They had to know something. Or it was only a stall for time. They had half a dozen kids of their own. Grandchildren and plenty of nosy neighbors that visited a lot. One saw Benny's pix on a wanted poster.
"Get out there and get it done, you asinine little prick." Ainsworthy sneered a laugh. "Afraid of one little old lady and one old man. Christ," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "You make me want to puke." Ainsworthy spat on the floor and looked as if he were going to spit on Smith, next.
Smith jerked his feet back from the saliva. He glowered at the thin man.
"Move it, you two. Out the door, unless maybe you want the kid to watch, too?"
Henry cocked an eye. "You take that poor child out there and I promise we'll fight you, Mr. Smith. Swear we will." Henry gave him a toothy, hopeful grin. "Swear we will."
Mandy bent over and touched Benny's arm. He felt something cold slide up, under the sleeve. A secret smile turned the corners of her eyes up. She winked.
In the back of his head, a warm hum buzzed, opening into a vast fire of praise and joy and love to the Eagle-Woman, Her Son, and Her Husband.
'Red Bow was right.' The old man cackled a laugh that bordered on insanity. 'Hewa, kid? Today is a good day to die.'
Ainsworthy's eyes narrowed to mere slits. The old couple was taking all this like it was a trip to the store. No, more like a wedding. Wasn't that what holy-rollers called it, a wedding supper?
With a pristine white hanky that seemed so out of place in this very earthy household, Ainsworthy scowled and mopped the sweat from his forehead.
Smith opened the door. A warm breeze and the sound of a few ducks and game hens came to him. Nothing in sight but a blood red Devonshire heifer wading through a boggy pasture. He ran a finger under the collar of his flannel shirt-coat and took a deep breath.
"Murderer."
The door snapped shut and the three of them were gone.
"Screw off, kid. The ride'll be here soon. So why don't you just shut it and make it easy on all of us." He gave Benny a look of cold amusement and turned to watch until Smith and the elderly Longs were out of sight behind the barn.
"It ain't gonna happen, man."
Benny stood on shaking legs. Ainsworthy turned to look at him. The man snorted a laugh. He reached out to shove Benny to the couch.
"Don't sweat it, Greylov. The law is the law."
"What fucking law?" Benny demanded. "They're American citizens, for chrisake. Not freekin gooks or Krauts or Rag-Heads. They're old-"
"The Boss lays down the law." Ainsworthy was no-nonsense and bitter. "He orders, we obey. For the good of the country. Understand, kid? No? Well, what you have to do is for the good of the country. To make the world a better place to live. Are you a traitor or what? Do as you're told, Greylov. Don't ask questions and it goes a lot smoother."
Benny shook his head. The skin on his face burned with a deep anger. Carved into the flesh of his chest by old man Greylov occult marking scorched and hissed with a hungry burning. They ate into his flesh, stank of death.
Dark-sun lords smelled them. Remembering that October night of long ago they drew near, eager to make Benny Wya Grey die. Only the bland, smiling presence of Two Swords held them at bay. Heart-o'-Fire whispered a hungry plea, 'Come. Come play with me, devils. Let me send you to Hell.'
Benny took a deep breath. Evil was near. He could sense it. Closing his eyes, he could see a black outline. Owl was hunting. He would be killed, maybe, and the Owl would possess his corpse, make him a slave. And raise his body to exist in a nether world that was neither life nor death. Wanting to cry, Benny shivered. Even in slavery to the State there was the hope of a better tomorrow.
The old man was all scorn. 'You let those old fools die for nothing, you're no man,' Grampa shouted. 'A coward who deserved a slave collar and the shame of being a male whore.'
Fuck the devil. Let Owl have his body.
"Death before dishonor."
Ainsworthy was staring out the window at the path, a quiet smile on his face, like a man who is next in line for a favored hooker. Yeah. He had that look on his face, and a musky smell like a stallion with the blood-lust on him, eager for a mare.
Benny crawled up from the sofa. He swayed, nothing looked too clear through the pounding in his head right now. A grim leer pulled at the scars on his face. Benny headed for the door.
With a snarl of disbelief, Ainsworthy snapped a curse. "Are you thick, kid?" he demanded. "Fuck it. Fuck the bitch lady, too. She can have you with a bullet in your leg. That should give you something to worry about, right?" He grinned and said in a mutter, "Trying to escape."
He raised the gun and felt something thump into his chest, just below the breastbone.
Benny was gone the moment the knife left his hands.
An expression of wonder on his face, Ainsworthy looked down and his knees buckled.
To Gramps Wya, he said, "Who the hell are you?"
Grampa smiled. A thing blacker then sin and twice as ugly lanced through Ainsworthy. More tormenters rose, thrusting themselves through his body, dragging the spirit out and down, through the floorboards of the living room. Then the shrieks began.
Grampa Waya gave a small chortle.
©2003 StoriesByEmail.com
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