57: Where’d the Wendigo? – Pt. 1

“You’re still staring at that?” Mike’s voiced interrupted Victoria’s thoughts but her eyes remained glued on the computer screen in front of her. She had been browsing through several gifting websites trying to find the perfect present for Derrick’s birthday. “Vik, I’m telling you guys aren’t so hung up over gifts as you might think. Sex, beer or some sort of tool and you’re golden.”

“That might work for you, Mike, but I’m not sure Derrick is the ‘tools’ sort of guy.”

“It’ll work, trust me. He’ll be what? 419?”

“418,” Victoria corrected with a sigh.

“Right and you think he’s really that concerned about another birthday? The guy has to have been there, done that 400 times over.” Victoria shot him a look and Mike chewed on his inner cheek with a wide-eyed expression. “I—that’s not what—I didn’t mean it like that, Vik. I only meant…”

“I know what you meant. But that’s also what makes this that much harder. I mean Derrick has had no one. The last of his living relatives died before the United States even became a country! I just want to get him something that shows he isn’t alone anymore.”

“Sex,” Mike tried again with a smile at the fluster on his partner’s face. “I mean sure you can do it alone. But it’s so much better with a partner.”

“Thanks, Mike. You know you’re really no help at all!” she huffed and clicked on the next website on the list.

“Hey, so what’s the deal with you two anyway?”

“Deal? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. The last time you two were in the same room together things seemed…tense. And now you’re over there shopping for birthday presents. What gives?”

“Oh. Well…we’re working things out I think. Um…Derrick is—was—well is going through something. He’s…not…quite himself,” she paused while gauging Mike’s expression before continuing. “It’s sorta like a mystical hangover. I’m trying to help him, you know, get over it.”

“Uh huh. And is he dangerous when he’s ‘not quite himself’?”

“Yes. But it’s mostly other um…vampires.”

“Mostly?” Victoria nodded and Mike sighed. “I see. I guess I’ll have to stock up on crosses and holy water then.”

“Well crosses won’t…,” she smiled and made a gesture around her neck. “He wears a cross. It doesn’t seem to harm him. But as I said, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I’ve warded you and everyone else I know. Just in case.”

“Thanks. But that doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better,” he replied with a sigh. “You know dog owners always claim their pooch won’t bite when they have a whole mouth full of sharp teeth.”

The front door opened, hitting the bells hanging above it and she closed out of the websites at the prospect of a new client. “Hello, welcome to Moonlight, how can we be of assistance?” Victoria’s overly chipper voice made Mike look in her direction with a confused expression and she stuck her tongue at him before standing and addressing the woman face-to-face.

“Oh I really hope you can. My name is Marguerite Mitchell,” the brown-haired, middle-aged woman nearly collapsed where she stood as she began crying, tugging at the clasp on her handbag as she struggled to open it. “My daughter’s missing and I need you to find her,” she replied, offering a picture to the detectives. Victoria took a look at the photograph before handing it to her partner.

“Have you filed a police report?” Mike asked, going into cop mode. This time it was Victoria shooting him a dirty look as if to say ‘you’re scaring away potential clients’ and he simply shrugged.

“Yes, but they won’t take me seriously. At first they told me I’ll have to wait 48 hours before they can officially begin looking. A lot can happen to her in that time. When I told them she’ll be 18 soon, they referred me to missing persons’ and said since she’s legally an adult, there’s not much else they can do! Please, you have to help me find her!”

“Of course Ma’am, we’ll do everything we can. Here,” Victoria directed her to the chairs in front of her desk, “Have a seat.” She sat on the edge of her desk as the crying woman rested to her right and offered her a box of tissues and a glass of water.

“Thank you.”

“Now what can you tell us about your daughter’s disappearance? Let’s start with her name first please.”

“Kelly Matheson and she’s 17. She’ll be 18 on Sunday. She was supposed to spend the weekend with her father. Daniel and I are divorced and he has supervised weekends. Since she wouldn’t be in town she asked if she could spend the night at one of her friend’s house so they could celebrate her birthday that day. I agreed but only if she called me when they got in to let me know everything was alright. When she didn’t call, I immediately contacted Stacy’s mother to ask if the girls had made it to her home safely. She told me Stacy was in her room, alone, and she hadn’t seen Kelly all day. Naturally my first reaction was to call her phone but after repeated voicemail reroutings I called the police.”

“What can you tell us about your ex-husband? Was it a bad breakup? Does he have a criminal record that you know of?” Mike asked, pulling up the Nexus so he could begin adding details into the system for a proper search.

“Matheson is his last name, he lives in Piedmont and he works as an Electrical Engineer for Pendleton Construction. The only thing I can tell you as far as a criminal history goes is he and his two older brothers were arrested for possession when he was a teen. His record was supposedly expunged for the offense.”

“Have you spoken to him about Kelly?”

“Danny says he hasn’t seen her,” she sniveled and swiped a rolling tear off her cheek. “It’s really important that I find her and soon. The hunter’s moon is tomorrow night.”

“What…does…that…mean?” Mike asked hesitantly, peering over the top of his monitor towards the crying woman.

“I’m sorry, I thought he’d told you; he mentioned that he would give you a call to let you know I was on the way. He’s been a friend of my family for a long time and I trust him. He said that you would be able to help; that you would understand the special circumstances.”

“I’m sorry, special circumstances?” Victoria asked, pulling up slightly from her seat.

“Yes. Kelly is a Wendigo.”

“A W-Wendigo?” Mike asked incredulously and Mrs. Mitchell nodded. His fingers stopped moving across his keyboard and he stared at the woman wide-eyed and slack jawed. “A Wendigo?” he repeated and she nodded once more.

“Excuse me, you said you were told by a friend that we could help. Who would that be?”

“Derrick. Derrick Constantine.” Victoria moaned in her throat and stood completely. “Look, Kelly hasn’t changed yet, which is why it’s important I find her. She has no idea what’s going to happen. Danny and I wanted to wait until her transition before we told her about our family’s history.”

“Your daughter has no idea she’s a Wendigo?”

“Danny and I thought it was best to wait. We ran from our first home when certain animal instincts took over and we didn’t want that to happen again so we’ve lived in secret. It was better for Kelly to grow up without having to fear for her life.”

“I understand. Don’t worry. We will do everything in our power to find your daughter.” Victoria glanced over at her partner and sighed. “Mike, could you take down all of Mrs. Mitchell’s information while I get in contact with Mr. Constantine please?” she held a smile in front of the client but it was obvious she was fuming on the inside.

“Sure thing.” 

Mrs. Mitchell moved to the other side of the room and Victoria backed behind her desk, collected her weapon from the bottom drawer and exited the building. On the ride to Derrick’s place, the only question that kept popping into her head was how? How had Derrick made contact with this new client when she’d left him chained up and locked in his basement?

Pushing the thick marble wall to the side, Victoria stepped through to the other section of Derrick’s large basement. The first time he’d shown her this secret room, she nearly lost her lunch on his shoes. It was a close encounter with a part of Derrick she was still not prepared for, no matter how much she convinced herself otherwise. The number of vile things she’d imagined took place in this dark, wretched and dank hole were endless. And the smears of blood and clumps of human hair and even fingernails jutting out of the stone walls did little to ease concern towards her own safety. 

Derrick propped his head up as he heard the outer door give way and greeted Victoria with a weak smile as she entered the room. Three weeks. Three full weeks he’d relinquished control to her and allowed himself to be bound in the chains where so many helpless victims had been confined. He was on a plasma cleanse. Reducing his addiction to veins cold turkey. The first few days were the hardest. No amount of alternative methods, that is animal blood or procured bags of plasma from the local hospitals, were enough to sate his voracious hunger.

Victoria had been threatened and called every bitch in the book by sun down on the first week. But early on in week two, Derrick had appeared to be back to his old self again. As a precaution, they agreed to keep going one more week but for all intents and purposes, Derrick was healed. “I brought you some more cow’s blood. The butcher was all out of pig.”

“Thank you,” he replied as he watched her place the bags of blood on the table near the door.

“We met with a friend of yours today; Mike and me.”

“A friend?”

“Marguerite Mitchell.”

“Ah. How is she?”

“Not so great. Her daughter is missing. But the question I’m wondering is, how did you call her about us when you’ve been here?”

“Word-of-mouth?” Derrick replied with a shrug. “I haven’t talked to Marguerite in…five months.” Victoria sighed and stopped pacing in front of him, satisfied with his answer but still puzzled over Marguerite’s appearance today. If it wasn’t Derrick then… “How’ve you been?” he asked, interrupting her train of thought.

“Fine.”

“Good. That’s good,” Derrick replied, clearing his throat. “How’s Mike?”

“He’s fine.”

“Glad to hear it,” Derrick smiled again, hoping to crack Victoria’s stony exterior. But Victoria folded her arms into her chest and shifted her weight on her feet as she avoided his eyes. “So…today’s the day.”

“Yeah. It is.”

“Are you ok with this?”

“I sorta have to be, right? It’s not like I can babysit you for the rest of my life.”

“I know, Victoria, but I also want to make sure you’re 100% ready for this. If there is even one doubt, you should leave me up here. Only when you’re ready.”

“I just want this over,” she sighed. Grabbing a large key ring from the hook outside the door, Victoria slowly approached Derrick. And after one last look, she took a deep breath and unlocked the shackle on his right wrist and then his left. Derrick stood upright, rubbing the bruises on his arms and watching them quickly heal.

“Thank you.”

“It was nothing.” She started away, but with his cat-like reflexes, he reached out and closed his hand around her arm before she moved too far.

“I’m tired of this, Victoria. Can we at least make an effort to talk like two people who, at one time, shared a bed?”

“What would be the point of that, Derrick? I told you I could never go back.”

“But you also said you wanted to at least be friends.”

“No. I said I would think about at least being friends. I have to be able to trust the people in my life, Derrick, and you’re not one of them,” she replied, finally pulling away.

“You’re right. I’m an asshole. Is that what you wanted to hear?” Victoria continued moving forward and he charged in front of her.

The look of displeasure curling her lips and the refusal to give him eye contact wasn’t at all acceptable. Ducking his head every way that she turned hers, he held her chin gently with his index finger and thumb, forcing her to look at his steely, gray eyes. “In my life, I’ve been able to depend on ONE person. Just one. In this world, there is but yourself to trust and to always rely, Victoria. It’s a hard lesson to learn.”

“Oh so is this the part where I thank you for being SUCH an outstanding teacher?” she asked, trying to sidestep him.

He rolled his neck on his shoulder, straightened his back and took two quick steps towards her. “I’ve been alive for a little longer than you, Victoria. I’ve seen things you couldn’t possibly imagine and done things I’d rather you didn’t. I’ve made mistakes, too many to count, and I’m pretty sure I’ll make plenty more. But in those 400 plus years there is only one thing I’ve ever been sure of; you.” Victoria sighed and dropped her eyes to her feet as Derrick continued talking. “I came to you with impure intentions, I admit that. I never meant for our relationship to become romantic or complicated or…whatever this is between us now. I had a job to do. And when it became obvious I wouldn’t be able to accomplish my goals without going deeper, I tried to pull away.”

“And it was at that point, or any of the hundred before, that you could have come clean and I wouldn’t be standing here hurt, on the verge of tears or shooting you or the millions of other thoughts going through my head right now. You could have saved me from all of this pain, Derrick. But you CHOSE to go deeper. You CHOSE to lie to me. You CHOSE to make me fall in love with you. YOU chose to break my heart,” she nearly shouted as her voice began to crack.

“Yes. I did. And now I choose to fix things. At the cost of my life I choose to make things right between us, to earn back your trust. I’m not asking you for anything you weren’t willing to give me before. This will take time, I know that. I just need to know you’re willing to try. Please. Give me the chance to fix us.”

“I don’t know if I can,” she replied weakly, batting away tears as they slipped down her face.

“You can, Victoria, it’s one of the many things that makes you so amazing. You have a big heart full of love and compassion and I am ready to spend as much time as I need to on my hands and knees begging for your forgiveness. I love you and I don’t want to lose you.”

“Derrick…”

“Do you still love me?”

“Derrick…”

“No, Victoria, answer that, please. Do you still love me?”

“Yes,” she sighed breathlessly and briskly wiped away more tears. “More than words can say.” With his hands hooked around Victoria’s waist, Derrick pulled her closer to him. Quickly tilting her head back, he brought his lips closer to hers, watching her eyes until the very last second. Their lips met with an explosion of heat. The way he skillfully maneuvered them against hers with so much tenderness and wanton need made her knees weak. Derrick’s teeth raked her bottom lip until she sighed with pleasure and he seized the opportunity to run his tongue along hers.  

With one hand on his shoulder and the other fumbling chaotically through his hair, she rested herself against his body, demanding more contact. Derrick lifted her leg over his hip and pressed himself deeper. He felt Victoria grinding herself against his growing erection and growled against her mouth. He pushed her against the door, sucking on her tongue as he licked at her bottom lip while his hands slipped up her side, brushing with bare skin beneath the shirt that made her tremble against him. 

“I love you,” she whispered against his cheek as he speckled her neck with kisses. “But, Derrick…” He looked up at her and smiled as he felt her hand against his cheek. “We still have a ways to go.” She gently caressed his face and spoke softly, hoping her words met him with the impact she needed.

“I know, Victoria. I know we do.”

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