“No one would believe them.”
“Maybe not, but I don’t think I’d take chances like that if I was a werewolf, or whatever.”
“Given this a lot of thought, have you?” He looked at Scott and gave a small grin.
“Not really a lot else to do right now.”
“You think they have a chance in hell, Scott?”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been giving that a lot of thought too, and I don’t really know if I care anymore.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Dead serious, dude.” Scott looked at him hard, and the innocent expression he was used to seeing was completely erased, covered over with anger. “I don’t care if they started on a wolf or not, they killed a pregnant woman and then they hid that fact away. That makes them about as low as anyone can get in my book, Eric.”
“What about George?”
“What about him? He should have stopped it from happening and he didn’t. I don’t care if they were both bigger and meaner than him, Eric, and you know he could have at least taken out Cullie. He should have stopped them and instead he went where he didn’t have to watch.”
Eric nodded. Much as he felt like he was betraying his friends, he also understood exactly how Scott was feeling.
“Okay, so even with the risk of being marked as a werewolf, he could have reported the murder.”
“Let’s forget the fact he was stuck for two days in the woods while he healed himself. Let’s forget all about that and pretend he was just a witness. Have you noticed what happens to a lot of the murderers out there, Eric?”
“A lot of them get the chair, especially for murdering and torturing a pregnant girl.”
“A lot of them get to sit on death row for fifteen or twenty years and their families get to reflect on why the asshole who murdered their loved one isn’t dead yet.”
“But they get killed eventually.”
“And a lot of them paint pictures, and write books and get released from death row because the laws were changed.” Scott shrugged.
“I thought you were opposed to the death penalty anyway.”
“I am. Mostly. If someone’s innocent, they shouldn’t fry. If a society convicts and then kills an innocent man, then the society is no better than the person who committed the crime in the first place. But this is different.”
“How is it different?”
“They all confessed. They tortured a pregnant woman to death.”
“You sure you aren’t letting Allison’s pregnancy color your views?”
“I don’t really care if I am. All I have to do is think of her in the same boat and I know I’d want all three of them dead myself. Especially if I watched them do it.”
“So you think he just doesn’t like the chances of all three of them going to death row?”
“He’s not after justice, Eric. He’s after revenge. I can’t blame him. I wish I could, but I can’t.”
Eric sighed and headed for the door. “Neither can I, damn it.”
Not a person inside had left their seats, but the tension he’d felt earlier seemed to have gone away. If the people were waiting for him to make a break for it, he guessed they felt a little more comfortable about his staying where he belonged now.
Part of him still wanted to find his wife and kids, but he decided he could wait it out for now. In the long run, he didn’t really have much choice in the matter anyway.
All he could do was wait, and wonder whether or not he should pray for the safety of his friends.
Cullie was panting like a dog when the howls started up. He was taking a much-needed breather and trying not to freeze his balls off when the sound hit him and sent feverish chills running down his back.
“I get out of this alive, I swear I’ll kill George.” It was a hollow threat, but it made him feel better. George was always trying to do what he thought was right, like narcing them all out at the diner, which had led Cullie to his current predicament.
Well, okay, and killing the wolf when it turned into a pregnant girl.
He started moving again, and as he did, he replayed the most powerful memory of his life. It had been cold that night and the wolf had steamed as the blood flowed from multiple lacerations. The animal was beyond being helped, but she had a beautiful pelt, at least the parts that weren’t soaked in blood. For the first time ever, he couldn’t resist the temptation.
As soon as they were out of the car and assessing the damage — the good news was that the dent on the front end was minor — George had pulled out his cell phone and started looking to see if he had good enough reception. Cullie’d snatched the phone out of his hands before he could do more than blink, and started on the browbeating.
The good thing about George was he was wishy-washy. Five minutes was all it took in most cases to convince him to change his tune, and with Mark helping it hadn’t even taken that long.
But he’d still wussed out and refused to take part in the fun.
There was a part of Cullie that had always wanted to be in a situation that allowed him to try torture. He was just drunk enough that night and as an added bonus, so was Mark. Okay, so he had to give Mark the head, but it didn’t matter.
Cullie took his time making the right cuts, not because he wasn’t in a hurry, but because the sensations he got as he started skinning the wolf alive were downright erotic. He’d never had a problem with getting laid, but this? Cutting the wolf made sex seem like a pale imitation.
Was it sick? Yes, but he didn’t care. He liked it.
He kept liking it, too, up until the moment the wounded animal became a woman. He was watching when it happened, amazed by the sudden transformation. One second he was peeling the fur from the broken right forepaw of a bloodied, oversized dog and the next his hands were gripping the soft, almost velvety flesh of a girl in her prime.
Mark had staggered back, shocked by the change. Cullie would have probably backed off, too, but at that moment he experienced the most shattering orgasm of his entire life. While his friend was screaming in shock it covered Cullie’s own yelp of pleasure.
Either the girl was beyond the ability to speak, or he didn’t want to remember her words. Either way, he sped up the cutting, not giving himself a chance to change his mind. There was no way the girl would live through what they had done and no way he wanted to stop now that he’d started. Without a second thought, he ran the skinning knife down her belly all the way to the edge of her sex and before Mark had even begun recovering from the shock, he gave a savage pull. Flesh peeled away just as easily on a human as it did on a deer. The difference was the deer would have been dead already and he would have missed the sounds of the girl screaming in pain.
The best part, the thing he would never admit to anyone, was how pleasantly surprised he was to realize she was still alive, even after he’d finished skinning her. Even thinking back on it, even in his current situation, he felt himself get aroused.
The thoughts were pushed out of his head when he heard the sound of a branch snapping in the distance. It wasn’t close by, but it was definitely closer than he wanted to think about.
Cullie cursed under his breath and started moving faster, his eyes keeping careful track of the land in front of him.
After the incident was finished, Cullie thought long and hard about whether or not he’d ever be able to kill another person and enjoy it the same way. He thought he would, and he’d been preparing for that possibility. Medical books can show you the most amazing things, like which clusters of nerves are most vulnerable to blunt force, and which tendons would cause crippling. He didn’t know if he’d ever get a chance to use his new skills, but he surely did hope so.